Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/775

KANSAS 755 sylvania being appointed in his stead. Mr. Woodson, the secretary of the territory, and acting governor before Geary's arrival, on Aug. 25 issued a proclamation declaring the terri- tory to be in a state of rebellion. He collect- ed a considerable armed force at Lecompton, while another body, amounting to 1,150 men, assembled under the Hon. David R. Atchison, late U. S. senator from Missouri, at a point called Santa Fe. On Aug. 29 a detachment from Atchison's army attacked Osawatornie, which was defended by a small band under John Brown, who made a vigorous resistance, but were defeated with the loss of two killed, five wounded, and seven prisoners. Five of the assailants were killed, and 30 buildings were burned. The next day a body of free- state men marched from Lawrence to attack Atchison's army. On their approach the lat- ter retired with his forces into Missouri. On Sept. 1 the annual municipal election took place at Leavenworth. A party, chiefly from Missouri, killed and wounded several of the free-state men, burned their houses, and forced about 150 to embark for St. Louis. On Sept. 8 Gov. Geary arrived at Lecompton, and Rob- inson and the other prisoners held on a charge of treason were released on bail. The governor on assuming office issued a proclamation call- ing upon all bodies of armed men to disband. He also promised protection to the free-state men, who accordingly laid down their arms. But the Missouri men immediately assembled to the number of upward of 2,000, forming three regiments with artillery, and marched to attack Lawrence, under command of a member of the Missouri legislature. Gov. Geary with a force of United States soldiers interposed be- tween them and Lawrence, and finally pre- vailed upon them to retire. During their re- treat a free-state man named Buffum was shot down by a man named Hanes almost in the presence of the governor, who subsequently caused the arrest of Hanes on a charge of murder. The United States district judge Le- compte, who was noted as an active parti- san, liberated Hanes on bail, and afterward on habeas corpus. Thereupon Gov. Geary for- warded a representation to Washington demand- ing the judge's removal, and about the middle of December James 0. Harrison of Kentucky was appointed in his place. Gov. Geary now reported to the president that peace and order were completely reestablished in Kansas. On Jan. 6, 1857, the legislature elected under the Topeka constitution met at Topeka, and organ- ized next day. The United States marshal im- mediately arrested the president of the senate, the speaker of the house, and about a dozen of the leading members, whom he carried prison- ers to Tecumseh on the charge of " having taken upon themselves the office and public trust of legislators for the state of Kansas, without lawful deputation or appointment." The houses, being left without a quorum, met the next day and adjourned till June. Shortly afterward the territorial legislature, composed entirely of pro-slavery men, chosen at an elec- tion in which the free-state men had declined to participate on the ground of its illegality, met at Lecompton, and among other acts pass- ed one providing for the election of a conven- tion to frame a state constitution for Kansas. Meanwhile the house of represensatives at Washington had passed a bill declaring void all the enactments of the territorial legislature, on the ground that they were "cruel and op- pressive," and that " the said legislature was not elected by the legal voters of Kansas, but was forced upon them by non-residents." The senate refused to pass the bill, and also to con- firm the appointment of Harrison in place of Lecompte, who thus remained chief justice of Kansas, never having been actually dismissed. Upon this Gov. Geary resigned his office and quitted the territory. Robert J. Walker of Mississippi was appointed by President Bu- chanan his successor, with Frederick P. Stan- ton of Tennessee for secretary. The election for delegates to the constitutional convention was held on June 15. The free-state men gen- erally took no part in it, on the ground that the legislature which ordered it had no legal au- thority, and that if they attempted to vote they would be defrauded and overborne by intru- ders from Missouri. About 2,000 votes were cast, while the legal voters in the territory by a recent census numbered about 10,000. At the territorial election held a few months later, the free-state men, being assured by Gov. Walker of protection from intruders, went to the polls and cast about 7,600 votes, to 3,700 votes thrown by the opposite party, electing Marcus J. Parrott delegate to congress, together with 9 of the 17 councilmen and 27 of the 39 representatives. An attempt was made to change this result by means of a false return from Oxford, Johnson co., a place containing 11 houses. It was alleged that at this place 1,624 persons had voted, and a corresponding roll of names was sent in, which on examina- tion proved to have been copied in alphabetical order from a Cincinnati directory. This re- turn, which if accepted would have changed the party character of the legislature by transferring from the free-state to the pro- slavery side eight representatives and three councilmen, was rejected by Gov. Walker as a manifest falsification. Soon after the ter- ritorial election the constitutional convention met at Lecompton and adopted a constitution, four sections of which related to slavery, de- claring the right of owners to their slaves to be inviolable, and prohibiting the legislature from passing acts of emancipation. This pro- vision alone was to be submitted to the electors at an election to be held on Dec. 21. The bal- lots cast were to be endorsed "Constitution with slavery" or " Constitution with no sla- very," thus securing in any event the adoption of the constitution, several clauses of which, besides those thus submitted, were highly ob-