Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1925-12-31

time," said Mr.. Harrison, "whel
there came to me the call of tn,
west | drove ito Kansas and tt
J Wichita with one horse attached Il
: a crude wagon. / arrived here ii
: June, 1871, month before Kansa,
; was surveyed for statehood. / never
shall forget my first impression o.
: Wichita which / have watched grow
to the middle vests greatest city.
do not believe there were as many
as a dozen buildings, all located
near the river and north of Main
street. I stopped my horse in front
of the saloon and the first man who
greeted me was jim Steele who is
remembered by the pioneers. Greet
ing me as a stranger, Jim asked me
If ] was looking for claim. When
II replied in the affirmative, he Of
fered to show me the best in the
country if / would give him $100. ]
declined and Jim kept reducing his
offer until he finally said he would
perform the proposed service if |
would set 'em up to the crowd at
the bar. agreed and we drank
Locates Near Colwich
But / had heard that Park City,
then located north of here on the
river, would be the county seat and
declined to take claim near here.
| located on quarter section 27s
miles north of where Colwich now
stands, and later Park City vanished
when Wichita was chosen as the
county seat. have never had a
mortgage on that homestead and I
owe 1T to the sale of buffalo hides
which l sold for 81 each on the
ground, after l had spent about four
days killing and skinning them on a.
site about where Kingman now
stands"
| Mr.. Harrison told of making his
| bag from that herd which has been
| immortalized in story by every early
settler. According to Mr.. Harri-
son the drove was travelling north
west and it required three days and
nights for it to pass a given point.
Sadly enough, the exodus practically
marked the passing of the bison
from southern Kansas. Mr.. Harri-
son himself declares that never af-
terward did he see a buffalo ex-
cepting one large bull, which he
slaughtered for meat in 1874.
Hard Shedding
1t was hard shedding in those
days, Mr.. Harrison ventures and af-
ter working at one thing and then
another for two years, the golden
opportunity came when he was Of,
fered money for the bison pelts.
Pocketing the $165, small fortune
at that remote period, he travelled as
fast as a train could carry him, to
his former Ohio home, where he
claimed his girl wife and their first
born. They landed few weeks
later on their homestead and with
in few years began acquiring ad-
ditional land.
The young wife toiled and saved,
the aged man observed as he looked
out through a window into which
floods of bright sunlight fell. But
his voice had been lowered until it
melted into silence. The dim eyes
grew moist and the look on his face
appeared to be one of sad reflection.
That little girl who grew wrinkled
and gray as the faithful companion
and helpmate of pioneer, is not
here now.
Answers Last Cah
More than year ago she heard
and answered that call that comes
odt of the mysteries of Eternity and
has gone on to her reward.
"It was Mary who smoothed over
time kindled the flickering flame of
hope" the aged man continued.
But" he said, after moments
reflection, "the sale of buffalo pelts
enabled me to bring Mary here and
Mary did most of the rest
Reminiscing on the early days Mr..
Harrison incidentally told of seeing
his first legal arrest in Wichita.
Men had been killed and their as
sassins went unpunished, he relates.
But finally Dan Parks, described as
the towns only policeman enlisted
the aid of the citizenry and one day
in IA after man had been shot, the
guilty party was taken into custody
and punished light punishment
indeed, he declared.
The later clipping from the Kan
sas paper read:
Wichita had some law abiding cit
izens and some fearless officers in
the early seventies, j. w. (Doc) Har-
rison, 800 South Walnut street, who
was one of Wichita's early settlers,
recalls.
According to Mr.. Harrison, jim
Kerns, one of the Wichita officers In
the early days, took into custody a
horse. Kerns went out of town to
get his man, and on the return to
Wichita, he and Roberts dismounted
at livery barn. Roberts ducked
under a horse and leaped into the
Arkansas river, which was then full
of water. He started to swim across
and Kerns yelled at him to halt. But
Roberts wasn't that kind of man
and kept on swimming. Kerns shot
close to him to scare him, but the
horse thief made the other bank.
Then the officer decided to do some
real shooting and put bullet
through Roberts He died soon af-
terward in the city jail.
Officer Takes Stern Step
Az IIn rrirn.n O Loo rncallc an Incl