The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1912-03-14

"- -INN |AANNN tN|III| a.l THAT
time me SAINT aligaf diIds
ins .hEnsh Knsa The ~ had:
een hooded WITH literature SsitfnF
forth the possi bilities Of this new ter.
\ ritoFy as a future agricultural king
Edona. But Southern West Virginia also
onered Inducements for those who
were not AFRAID 10 bump up against
fhe after-the-war drawbacks
On that winter day IN ~. Captain
webb capitalized the situation 10 his
children. he pictured the advantages
and the disadvantages OF the two
states as Investigation had acquainted
him with them. Then he put II 10 a
vote, TO decide which place should be
the future home Of the Webb family.
The vote decided the matter in favor
i OF Kansas, and TO kansas Captain.
Webb game a few weeks later and
took up q claim in Gypsum township.
=. Webb, ex-county commissioner
ex-eounty treasurer % sedgwick coun.
tty. and in 1910 second in a big field
Of candidates for the Republican nom.
nation for state treasurer. was one If
the boys who gethered around his,
fathers knee II years ago and voted
TO come to Kansas. incidentally, the
present attorney general of California
j was in that family group, too, and
Though he was but years old then,
me voted for Kansas along with the
majority OF his brothers and sisters.
THAT is how happened to come to
Kansas" said Mr.. Webb, when the
question was put to him. why We
voted for Kansas do not know exs9
actly, but i do know that one thing.
which Influenced most OF us was that
father told US we could get on our
ponies In Kansas and chase coyotes
across the prniries until we could hit
them over the head with clubs. have
lived in Kansas a g cd many years,
but i never chased but one coyote
that way. didn't get close enough
Ito It to hit It over the head with a
club! either"
"A few weeks later the head of the
Webb family came to kansas. He
first visited his friend. the late Dick"
Blue, in the eastern part of the state,
and then took up claim in what isl
now Gypsum township, about midway
between Wichita and Augusta. He
could have gotten closer to Wichita,
but he, like many others Of that day,
Thought Augusta the future metropolis
of the Southwest, because the land Of
flee was located there, "A little later
he sent for two OF his sons, E. Webb
and a younger brother, to come out
and hold down the claim while he re-
turned to Virginia for the rest Of the
family.
It was June that tho new well
lsnown citizen or Sedwick county and
This brother got their first glimpse of
Kansas prairies. They had been told
to get of the train at Strong City and
to take the Istageo from Cottonwood
Falls to Wichita. They did as direct
ed, only to find that in the meantime
the Sante Fe had been finished to Pea
body, ana that the stage started from
that town instead of from Cottonwood
Fails. II was their first insight into
western progress. They stayed over
night at thetFalls and the. next day
happened to run across a freighter
who was. going to Augusta. Rather
than walt for their train, they took
passage with him, and though it took
Them a couple Of days, they finally
reached the Butler county town.
From Augusta they walked to theI
claim which their father had selected.
1t was a jaunt OF ten miles, and Ill
seemed many times that far to the
lonesome youths who never before had
been SO far away from home.
81 never will forget that walk" said
Mr.. Webb. as he told the story. ITO
US it seemed as If the whole United
States must be land. You know We
had been raised back there among the
hills of West Virginia, where houses
were not very far apart, and where
the country was pretty thicbly settledI
Here we followed a trail that was none
too plain, and nothing could We SEQ