The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-02


this volume is hoary with age, and
was placed in commission immediate
ly following the admission of Kansas
as a state Indeed it is nothing more
or less than a diary of all the official
acts of Charles Robinson, first gov
ernor of Kansas. A more authentic
or interesting history of Kansas of
that day would be impossible to ind
in the archives of the state. The
clerk who kept the record was an
artistic penman of the old school and
besides this he clothed the dullest OFF,
cial statements of fact in the gar
ments of a classic diction worthy OF
Chaucer.
the attention Of the keeper of this
record and he dealt with the most
important facts in the same para
graph with the appointment of a
notary public.
The first entry in the book reads
as follows: Received from Hon.
Marcus J. PARROT. a certified copy of
the bill admitting Kansas into the
Union"
First Inauguration.
Many columns will soon be written
about the inauguration of Governor
Stubs next month, but the only ac-
count of the first Inauguration of this
kind is found in this book. The
writer evidently believed with the
bard of Avon that "brevity is the soul
event as follows. ''Took and sub
scribed an oath for the faithful per-
Torrance of his duties as governor,
which oath was administered Feb.
9, 1861. by Caleb S. Pratt, county
clerk of Douglas county"
The first proclamation ever issued
from the governors Office was for
purpose of calling a special election in
the then Eighth representative dis
trfct composed of the counties OF
lo4E
fill the vacancy caused by the death
of A. Soule. Today these three coun-
ties have six representatives instead
of one. The second proclamation
called a special election in the then
Tenth representative district COM
posed of Allen, Anderson and Frank
lin counties to fill the place made
vacant by the resignation of Repre-
sentative B. L. G.. Stone.
On Feb. %, 1861, the first COVER
nor made his first appointment of a
notary public, that honor going to
Alfred Curtis of Douglas county. On
March 20 DR.. Richard Huson of
Tecumseh, Shawnee county, received
the first appointment of justice of the
peace
The appointment of two United
States senators at one clatter aroused
no eloquence in the mind Of the clerk
as follows, under date of April 5,
1851: Commissioned Samuel C.
Pommeroy and James H. Lane as
senators to the United States senate
as per report of joint convention de-
claring them elected"
On April the governor commits
stoned the first notary public in Shaw
nee county in the person of Edward
Hoagland.
Military Commissions.
Gen. Powell Clayton, the famous
reconstruction governor of Arkansas
and later ambassador to Mexico for
many years received his first military
commission from the governor of
Kansas on April 20 as captain of the
Iseavenworth Light Infantry. On the
same day Capt. Lon w. Horn, Lieu
tenant John Moff1tt and Second Lieut..
~ wentworth received their commits
sions in the Topeka guards, and Capt
Tom Tucker, Lieut.. S. P. Thompson
and Second Lieut.. James R. Parker
received commissions in the Topeka
cavalry
The first bill passed by a Kansas leg
islature to receive the governors ap-
proval was house bill 81, which was an
act to declare the road from Atchison
to Clifton, on the Republican fork, a