The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-09

Quantrell died Monday. November %
at an Odd Fellows home in Springfield
Ohio, aged so years. These relics of the
most historic devil developed by the civil
war We're taken from his grave in Ken
lucky by W. w. Scott, of Canal Dover
Ohio, assisted by Mrs. Quantrel. The
grave was opened to satisfy the mother
/ of his death
| 1t was therefore evident that even in
the mind of Mrs. Quantreu there was
ooubt about the truth Of the story of her
sons death, and it is possible that the
sh1n bones of Quantrell carefully cher
lshed by the State Historical society
VIII prove to be bogus.
Story of the QuantrelI Raid.
Quantrelps raid on the city of Law
renee took place. August 21, 1863. and it
resulted in the killing of 143 citizens of
Lawrence and the destruction of the
business houses of the town and many
residences by fire.
Apparently the object of the raid was
chiefly to kill off a lot of free state men,
rather than to plunder the stores and
dwellings. The Quantrell raiders show
ed no quarter, and their cold-blooded
tute the most horrible story in the his
tory of Kansas.
The leader Of the raid. William Clark
Quantrell, was born in Canal Dover
Ohio, 1887. He was the son of Thomas
Quantrell, school teacher, and q man
of excellent reputation. There was moth
ing in the birth or breeding of "Bill'
Quantrell to indicate the fiendish dis
position he was destined to develop
In 1857 Quantrell came to Kansas and
settled in Miami county. In 1859 he went
to Salt Lake City, where he apparently
fell in with crowd of bad men. In 1860
he came back to Kansas, and lived at
Lawrence under the name of Charles
Hart. Here he became involved in some
shady transactions of a criminal nature
which made it necessary for him to
leave the state. He went to Missouri,
and became the leader of a gang of des-
peradoes. When the war broke out
Quantrell was the leader of the guerilla
band which made frequent raids across
the border into Kansas. In October
1862, he raided Olathe, and subsequently
raided Shawnee, Spring Hill and Au-
brey. At these raids the object was
chiefly plunder, and killing was general
ly indulged in only when the victims
resisted. Isolated farm houses were the
constant subjects of attack, but Guam
treu did not venture further inside the
state than ten or fifteen miles. People
supposed that the border was too we'll
attack on Lawrence, and the town was
entirely unprepared for it's fate.
On August 10. 1868. Quantrell assem-
bled a body of about 300 mounted men a
Columbus, Mo-, in johnson county. He
then moved to Lone Jack, Johnson coun-
ty where the roll call showed 294 men
in readiness for business. Bill Todd and
Bill Anderson. both noted desperadoes,
were Quantrelfs chief 1ieutenants. Dick
Yeager Frank and Jesse James, the
Younger brothers and other bandits
were in the list of members. This COM
pany of desperate and dastardly assas-
sins marched across the Missouri bor-
der in daylight, passed within shouting
distance of a camp of government troops
and proceeded undisturbed to Lawrence.
They arrived at Lawrence about day.
light and after sending a couple of
horsemen~ through the town to see that
the coast was clear, the whole troop
rode down the main street, yelling and
shooting. Then commenced systematic
burning of buildings, looting and kill
ing The raiders killed men only, and
showed no mercy. They themselves said
that their orders were to kill every man
and burn every house
When the raiders left the town, they
were followed for some distance by
hastily formed posse under the charge
of Jim Lane. This posse overlook the
raiders but was not strong enough to
attack them Federal troops came to
the rescue and there was somewhat of
a battle near the Usage river in which |
QuantrelPs gang got the better OF 1t. |
The federal troops, though they We're
about equal in numbers to the raiders, |
permitted the Missouri bandits to escape |
with their lives.
Quantrell was wounded in a battle |
with regular troops near Taylorsville, |
KY on March l. 1865. He was supposed |
to have been transferred to a hospital |
at Louisville, and to have died there.
Have Been Fake Quantrells Before.
The officials of the state historical
society do not believe that the Van |
couver Island Quantrell is the gen.
uine Lawrence, Kan, article. They |
do not venture any opinion as to the |
Identity of the man who claims to be
the original, blown-in-the-bottle !
QuantrelI, but they intimate strongly |
that he is a rank fake.
There have been fake Quantre1is |
before. The historical society has
raced down several such imposters,
and therefore their faith in QuantreIl |
stories is much shaken.
Miss Zu Adams, the custodian of all |
he Quantrell literature, relics, ETC.,
IF the state historical society said this
morning:
his man can be Quantrell. His
leath has been too we'll authenticated.
But it will furnish an interesting con-
ribution to the Quantrell literature"
Quantrell's shin bones are not on
public exhibition at the historical So
,iety rooms. They are locked up in
he vault. and are only exhibited on
'equest. The reason they are not pub
icly displayed is because some of the
preachers of the state thought it
would be perfectly awful to display
uch. relica of the wicked outlaw, and
to preach sermons against |
displaying them. However nobody
las commenced to preach sermons
Lgainst displaying the fine collection
# skulls. shin bones vertebrae and
,ther human relics which are already
n the glass cases of the historical So
iety.
There is much valuable historical
natter to show that OuantreIl is really
lead. and here are few samples GULL
d from the big volumes of QuantrelI Il
tuff on file with the historical So
iety:
,uantreIrs Sergeant Says He's Dead.
An extract from the Cleveland Leader
# December IL. 1882, says: