EARLY POLITICAL VIEWS — JUDICIAL DISTRICTS — FIRST ELECTION — CHARACTER OF OFFICERS — FIRST TOWNSHIP OFFICERS — AN INDEPENDENT PARTY — FIRST CONVENTIONS — POLITICAL PARTIES — FARMERS' ALLIANCE AND POPULISM — FREE SILVER PARTY — LAST ELECTION — SENATORS — REPRESENTATIVES — COUNTY COMMISSIONERS — COUNTY CLERKS — COUNTY TREASURERS — COUNTY ATTORNEYS — SHERIFFS — CLERKS OF THE DISTRICT COURT — REGISTERS OF DEEDS — PROBATE JUDGES — SUPERINTENDENTS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION — COUNTY SURVEYORS — COUNTY ASSESSORS — COUNTY HEALTH OFFICERS.

Politics, modern politics, as such, were an unknown commodity (I use the word advisedly) in the early settlement of Butler county. Elections coming on and being held soon after the close of the war, men, on both sides, were apt to vote as "they shot," or as with the side with which they were in sympathy during the war. There being at this time but two political parties, the Republican and Democratic, and a majority of the early settlers, having as a rule come from the Northern and Eastern States, their sympathies were naturally with the Northern army, consequently, the vote was in favor of the Republicans and remained so for many years, during which time a nomination on the Republican ticket was equal to an election. While this was true, yet the men of those days were true Kansans, and recognized the right of their neighbors to think and vote as their conscience dictated, and as they believed to be right, and very seldom was the question of political preference made a personal one. Of course, then as now, they probably thought it strange that such a good neighbor should show such poor judgment as to vote a different ticket from what they themselves did; but they continued to loan and borrow from each other and help each other in every way possible, notwithstanding their differences in political faith. Argue and talk politics? Certainly at times arguments and talk ending then, as now, each more than ever convinced of his own opinions and the blindness of his neighbor. Of course, they went to the polls, attended the election, and voted as though upon their ballot depended the result of the election, and returned to their homes with a consciousness of having done their duty. They were not here for political purposes or for amusement; theirs, the more serious

business of life, establishing homes, taming the prairies, and looking after the welfare and comfort of those depending upon them. The day of the political philosopher had not yet arrived. The man with the elongated neck, which had haired over and which he used for, or in lieu of, a head, had not yet entered upon the business of saving the country or instructing the sovereign squats how to vote, but he was in embryo and in due time came forth to enlighten the voter.

One of the earliest items in Butler county's political history was the apportionment of the State into judicial districts. Butler, Hunter, Greenwood, Madison, Weller, Coffey, Anderson and Allen constituted the thirteenth district. The number of the judicial district of which Butler county has formed a part has been changed several times since that time, but is today a part of the thirteenth district. In August, 1857, Samuel L. Addie was elected from the above territory to the Territorial Senate, and C. Columbia to the House. In October, 1857. Madison and Butler polled sixty-nine free state and seven democratic votes. In December, 1857, an election was held under the Lecompton Constitution, but no return was made from Butler county. Iu[sic] March, 1857. Samuel Stewart was elected delegate to the Minneola convention, and in August, 1858, an election was held at the old El Dorado town site on the Lecompton Constitution. The entire vote (twenty-three) polled was cast against this infamous plantform.[sic] In April, 1859, there were cast in Butler county, fifteen votes for the Wyandotte Constitution and two against it. On November 8, 1859, there were forty-eight votes cast for Congressman, Perrott, Republican, receiving forty-seven, and Johnson, Democrat, receiving one. J. C. Lambdin was elected member of the Territorial Council at the same election. In May, 1858, an election was held in Butler county on the adoption of the Free State Constitution. The election was held north of Chelsea, under some spreading oak, still standing between the Buchanan and McDaniels farms. No box could be found out of which a ballot box could he made. A big coffee mill was furnished by Mrs. Woodruff. This had a drawer which was drawn out and the ballots put in and the drawer closed until the next vote was ready to he deposited. About one hundred votes were cast. The first session of the Legislature after admission as a State was convened March 26, 1861. Butler county was represented by P. G. D. Morton. of Chelsea, then the county seat. J. R. Lambdin, of Chelsea, was journal clerk of the House. The only State officers furnished Butler county, in so far as I remember, was W. H. Biddle, State Treasurer, and W. F. Benson. the present Bank Commissioner of the State.

Butler county has been very fortunate in the selection of its county officers, with perhaps two or three exceptions. Each and every officer has endeavored to perform the duties required of him, and all have left their offices, at the close of their respective terms retaining the confidence and respect of their people. Two officers, in the years that are

past, holding clerical position and very similar in their tastes, physical and moral makeup, weak in will power, but thirsting after the flesh pots of Egypt, were accused of betraying the trust placed upon them and left the county for the county's good. One was unsuccessfully prosecuted and the other left his bondsmen to make good his deficits. Both are now deceased. These were the only ones that were caught. There is one other circumstance connected with one of the county officers that deserves mention, that of the county treasurer, Archibald Ellis, the father of our esteemed citizens, John Ellis and Mrs. M. B. Coggeshall. At the close of his term as treasurer in 1873, upon a settlement with the board of county commissioners, preparatory to turning his office over to his successor, Joseph Williams, they found there was due to the county a certain sum of money, upon which he asked them if they were sure that it was the amount due, and if they would he satisfied with that sum. They replied that was all they were entitled to. He gave them the amount asked for and then added the sum of about $3,400, saying that amount was then in the office; it did not belong to him, but to the county, and demanded that they receive it, which they finally did. They gave him a receipt therefor, but were unable to tell afterwards where it came from or belonged. As a matter of fact, that same $3,400 became a part of the funds out of which the present court house was constructed. Had Diogenese been in search here for an honest man he could have dispensed with his lantern.

The first recorded election was held November 1, 1863. The number of votes is not given, but the following were declared to have received the highest number of votes cast: Robert Crozier, chief justice; A. L. Howard, district attorney; G. T. Donaldson, representative; Henry Martin, probate judge; J. T. Goodall, sheriff; M. Vaught, county clerk and registrar of deeds; T. W. Satchell, county treasurer; Judson Mabe, county assessor; H. G. Branson, D. Lewellyn, S. P. Johnson, county commissioners; Henry Martin, S. P. Myers, justices of the peace; C. C. Pratt, John B. Johnson, constables.

Township Officers.—April 5, 1864: Samuel Fulton, justice of the peace; John Lawton, Silas T. Howell, constables; William Townsley, trustee; C. L. Chandler, overseer. There is no record of any Presidential election in 1864, but on November 4, 1865, the following officers were elected: M. Stubbs, state Senator; D. L. McCabe, representative. The first vote for Governor was cast on November 6, 1866, with the following results: Samuel J. Crawford, Republican, sixty-one votes: J. S. McDowell, Democrat, twenty-six votes. Samuel J. Crawford was the father of the present Mrs. Arthur Capper. In November, 1872, the following electoral votes were cast for President: U. S. Grant, Republican, 983; Horace Greeley, Liberal Republican and Democrat, 486. Up to this time no convention or called meeting of the voters had been held. The names of the parties for whom votes had been cast were placed upon the ballots by some one suggesting them, sort of windfalls or

hand-picked, or by a few accepting or assuming the responsibility of leadership of certain factions and advising their followers to vote as directed and as they themselves did. The question then upon which the people differed related to the division of the county and the removal of the county seat. There were questions of business, rather than of politics and all that the records of the county show in relation thereto are set forth in another portion of this work.

During the summer and fall of 1873, a mass convention of the people was called, at whose suggestion it is now unknown, but it is stated on good authority that the first public suggestion came from J. R. Ward and W. H. Litson, of Benton township, they giving as a reason that the farmer of the county was being overlooked in the distribution of official patronage. Someone requested that the same be done, to meet at the Sutton Branch school house, about three miles southwest of El Dorado. There may have been, and undobutedly were, some politicians there, but no politics; they were there to do, on the surface, at least, what was for the best interest of the county and to nominate candidates for different county offices, including a representative to the Legislature. Never having seen a convention of this or any other kind, nor even having heard of one, the writer attended, but took no part therein, and some of the things which happened are very well remembered. The men were practically all strangers to me, but I now recall that among them I met for the first time, Capt. M. Guinty, of northwest Butler, who came down from his old claim, which he still owns; Dr H. D. Hill, of Augusta; Major Joe L. Ferguson, of Spring township; J. E. Anderson, afterward sheriff; Uncle Joe Williams, Vincent Brown and many others. I have no recollection who the officers of the convention were, but peace and harmony appeared to prevail and the ticket they nominated was all elected, as I now remember.

Some one placed the name of Major Joe L. Ferguson in nomination for the legislature. The motion was seconded and he was nominated practically without opposition, and upon being called for, came forward and said: "Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the convention. I am deeply grateful and more than appreciate the honor you have attempted to confer upon me. I would esteem it as one of the greatest privileges and one of the proudest acts of my life to represent this great county of Butler in the legislature of the State; but, gentlemen, while it may be somewhat humiliating for me to say so, yet for financial reasons, strong ones, believe the, I am compelled to decline the honor. I am simply so poor you could not hear me walk through dry leaves." His decision was final and Dr. H. D. Hill was nominated in his stead and was elected. The balance of the ticket nominated was as follows: Joseph Williams, county treasurer; D. L. Knowles, register of deeds: James E. Anderson. sheriff; Vincent Brown, county clerk; J. W. Weimer, surveyor; William Snyder, coroner; J. A. McGinnis, county commissioner first district; E. B. Brainard, county commissioner, second

district; E. W. Clifford, county commissioner, third district. Some one cut a plug of "Battle Ax;" Uncle Jimmy Anderson handed a box of "see-gars" in through the window, an outsider opened a bucket of water and the meeting adjourned. Of course, there was opposition to this ticket, but it was so divided that the result was the election as above.

The first political convention for the nomination of candidates for for the various offices was called and held in the summer of 1875 by the Republican party, followed by the Democratic and other parties up to the year 1882, when the primary, or, as it was called, "The Crawford County System," was adopted. This manner or rule of making nominations remained in vogue until 1888, when the people became dissatisfied with that system, claiming, and with good grounds therefor, that all nominations were given to the parties living in the cities, and that the rural districts were not getting their share of the offices; that the acquaintance of the city candidate with the voter of the county over his country competitor gave him too great an advantage, and the convention system was again adopted and remained until the law provided for the primary system of making nominations.

The first party to put a ticket in the field in opposition to the Republican and Democratic parties was the Greenback party in 1881, their principal candidates being W. P. Flenner for county clerk and O. Council for register of deeds. They polled in this election about twelve per cent. of the entire vote cast and remained in the political field to a greater or less extent until after the election of 1887.

In the year 1888, in addition to the two old parties, there was offered to the voters an opportunity to vote for candidates on the Union Labor or the Prohibition tickets. These parties carried tickets during that and the following year, 1889, when the Union Labor party dropped out. The Prohibitionists remain to some extent, at least, until the present time. Then came the Alliance, Populist or Peoples party in 1890.

Some one, said to be from one of the Southern States, came into the county organizing the farmers into the Farmers' Alliance, and it was currently reported, while on his mission, he dropped or left a little of the political leaven, leaven and a half or peradventure leaven and three-quarters of Populism. However, this may be, it was something that worked, worked day and night, Sundays and week days; sunshine or storm, it worked, always worked, active, diligent and persevering; still it worked, the most infectious, contagious, epidemic ever known to mankind. The whole body politic became infected. Democrats disappeared without a struggle, disappeared as does the pumpkin pie in the maw of a hungry school boy, or as does the hobo when offered work. There were scarcely enough Republicans left to make a quorum or adjourn a meeting. The movement finally cultimated[sic] in a stupendous county rally in El Dorado in the fall of 1892, the people coming together by common impulse from every village, hamlet and

farm. In earnest, dead earnest, in their opinion something was wrong, radically wrong, with our political system (and who now can say they were entirely mistaken), and it became their duty to rectify that wrong, the leaven still working, whenever material could be found upon which to work. They were to meet on Walnut Hill, at the west end of Central avenue to commence their march. They gathered on that day, spreading out over the territory between there and Towanda and about noon started down the avenue, drums beating, horns tooting, flags and streamers flying from vehicles of all kinds and descriptions; from the best in the county to the caricature of the worst of the two old political parties; singing, "Goodbye, Old Parties, Goodbye." Still it worked and on they came; came by companies, by regiments, by brigades, by battalions; came as a whole army comes, and kept coming. A few old-line Democrats stood on the street corners with a sickly grin or a diabolical leer on their faces. The Republicans, what were left, going into their back rooms, pulling down the blinds and closing the doors until driven forth for fresh air, would come out, get a sight of the parade, neither end of which could be seen, and go back into their holes. And still it worked and still they came. Night alone hid them from view. Election time approached with the leaven still working, and election day found it doing business at the same old stand and in the same old way. The result of the election was forcibly if not elegantly expressed by the German, who had caught the contagion and when the vote was announced, exclaimed, "Mine Gott, it vas a clean schweep," and it was. Everything on the ticket, from top to bottom, from head to tail, was People's party. They remained in power and continued as a party until about the year 1906, when some of them began fusing with the remnant of the Democratic and Republican parties, finally disappearing altogether. "Folded up as folds the Jack knife when a chaw of plug is cut."

The Free Silver or Abraham Lincoln Republican party was in the field asking for votes during the years 1896 and 1898. The Socialist party came in in the fall of 1908 and appeared on the tickets until after the election of 1912. Until 1908, the voting was done by ballots prepared principally by the candidates for the various offices except the name of the opponent of the party having the ticket printed. The voter erased all the names but those of his choice. Workers for the candidates would appear on the morning of the election with their pockets filled with campaign cigars or sometimes a bottle of anti-snake bite and put in the day soliciting for the men of his choice or for those who had last paid him for his work. His labors consisted of placing a ticket in the voters' hands, going with him to the polls, watching him deposit the ticket and then give him one of the aforesaid cigars and look for another victim.

Sometimes the worker would be worked by the workee, switching tickets on him on the way to the polls, taking one already prepared

out of his vest pocket and voting it instead of the one he was supposed to vote, thereby getting two cigars with his vote. Before the workers arrived on the grounds on election day the voter picked up one of the many tickets kept for distribution at the place of voting and voted as he desired or as he happened to, until word went out that he was not being looked after. The same condition applied here, and I presume all over the State, that existed at Topeka, Kansas, one election day when Chet Thomas rushed up to some of the workers and said, "Some of you people get down to the polls right quick. Those fellows are voting just as they d— please. Of course, there was not any considerable number of voters to which the above would apply, simply a few without any political preference, and were found in all parties. The primary law, enacted in 1908, took the "workers'" goat or job and "keen spittin'" tobacco is more in evidence now on election days than cigars and booze.

The last of the new parties to put in an appearance is that of the Progressive Republicans in 1914. In this county they elected one man, that prince of good fellows and good citizen, A. J. Holderman, to the Legislature. It is often said that because the people knew, liked and respected Jim, he was elected, not because of his politics, but in spite of them.

At the election in 1913, the question of equal suffrage was submitted to the people with the following result: For, 2,613; against, 2,369; majority for suffrage, 244. This was the second time this question was before the people of this county. The first time it was to amend section 1 of article 5 of the constitution of the State by striking therefrom the word "male," which resulted as follows: For the amendment, twenty-eight votes; against the amendment, seventy-six votes; majority against amendant,[sic] fifty-eight votes.

At the last election of county officers, November, 1914, there were elected: J. D. Joseph, Democrat, senator; J. M. Satterthwaite, Republican, representative; A. J. Holderman, Progressive, representative. The county clerk, sheriff, register of deeds, county attorney, clerk of the district court and county surveyor are Republicans. The probate judge, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction (the latter without oposition),[sic] are Democrats, and the coroner is a Progressive. What the result of the election of 1916 will be, only the man who can foretell the verdict of a petit jury can tell.

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