In the spring of 1879 occurred the rush from the South, to which was given the name of the "Exodus," and the "Exoduster" for a time became a prominent figure in Kansas. Great numbers of black people, men, women, and children, arrived by rail at Parsons, from Texas, and on steamboats at Wyandotte and Atchison. The later comers represented the ex-slave population of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. They were set ashore with their scanty household goods, strangers, houseless, foodless, but seemingly cheerful and uncaring. Their story soon became the talk of the country, and a Congressional committee was formed to investigate the "Exodus," and many witnesses were summoned from Kansas.

In the meantime, the "Exodusters" cared for themselves, and were cared for. Meetings were held in Lawrence, Wyandotte, Leavenworth, and Topeka, to take measures for their immediate relief. A Freedman's State Central Association was formed, headed by Governor St. John. Money and goods were received, $2,000 coming from Chicago, and $3,000 from England. In Atchison the colored people came generously, with the whites, to the rescue.

235. Settlement of the Negroes. In the late fall of 1877, "Exodusters" gathered from Topeka and other points, and founded the town of Nicodemus, in Graham county. With but three horses in the entire settlement, the people in the spring put in wheat and other crops, with hoes and mattocks, and in the harvest pulled the grain with their hands. The men afterwards walked to eastern Kansas and to Colorado in search of work, and the women "held down the claims." The "Exodusters' formed little suburbs in the cities where they collected, and "Tennesseetown," in Topeka,

is a relic of the "Exodus." The entire body was absorbed in the laboring population of the State. These immigrants conducted probably the first successful attempt of the freed people to occupy, under the Homestead Law, the public lands of the United States. They came to Kansas not by invitation or offered inducement, but moved by an impulse to seek security in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

236. Amendment to the Constitution.-In 1876 the Constitution of the State was amended so as to provide for biennial sessions of the Legislature, and the session of 1877 was the first held under the new amendment. On the 30th of January, 1877, the Legislature, on the sixteenth ballot, elected Preston B. Plumb United States Senator. George W. Martin was elected State Printer for the third term.

237. State Election, 1878.-The November election of 1878 resulted in the choice of John P. St. John as Governor; L. U. Humphrey, Lieutenant-Governor; James Smith, Secretary of State; P. I. Bonebrake, Auditor; John Francis, Treasurer; Willard Davis, AttorneyGeneral; A. B. Lemmon, Superintendent of Public Instruction; Albert H. Horton, Chief Justice. John A. Anderson, Dudley C. Haskell, and Thomas Ryan were elected to Congress.

General John Fraser died at Pittsburgh, Pa., June 4, 1878. General Fraser was born in Scotland.

He came a

young man to the United States, served with distinction in the war for the Union, and rose to the command of a brigade. After filling various educational positions of

prominence in the State of Pennsylvania, he became Chancellor of the University of Kansas, serving from 1868 to 1874. It was during the chancellorship of General Fraser that the main building of the University was built, and his name is preserved in Fraser Hall. In 1874 he was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and served one term. He was chosen a professor in the Western University at Pittsburgh, in July, 1877, and there died. His was the record of a soldier, gentleman and scholar.

SUMMARY.

1. Kansas participated in the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia.

2. Kansas won several prizes.

3. The prosperity of the years from 1870-1880 was broken by the grasshopper visitation in 1874.

4. The Eastern and Western States loyally gave assistance.

5. George T. Anthony was elected Governor in 1876.

6. The Negro Exodus of 1874 resulted in the settlement of many colored people in Kansas.

7. Biennial Sessions of the Legislature provided for by an amendment to the Constitution.

8. John P. St. John was elected Governor in 1878.

CHAPTER XXIV.

238.

EVENTS OF THE DECADE.

Cattle Trade.-The great Texas cattle trade became a feature in Kansas with the building of the railroads. The "drive" being directed as conveniences for shipping were afforded. In 1866 Mr. Joseph G. McCoy came to Abilene and began his labors to attract the "drive" from Texas to Kansas. He was successful, and from 1867 to 1872 Abilene was a cow-boy town; and the "boy" with his jingling spurs, wide hat and other equipment was much in evidence. Ready to meet and thrive upon the sunburned traveler from Texas, and to share the burden of his money and his sins, came a motley crowd of both sexes, and great disorder prevailed, not only by night but by day. This, in time, led to the appointment of some person as city marshal, or otherwise styled regulator of the peace, armed with several revolvers and an unrivaled facility in their use. Thus came, in 1870, to Abilene, James G. Hickox, "Wild Bill," and the head and progenitor of the entire family of wild and other Bills, who for years held a sure place in the dime novel literature of the country. The herds of long-horned cattle held in prairies about, the herd of wild men who haunted the "cow-towns," the stir of a really great commerce, the cattle which were bought and sold, and shipped, greatly attracted the use of the writer's pen. In 1871 the great cattle trade tarried for a season at Newton. In 1872 the

trade began to be a great feature at the new city of Wichita, and in 1875 at Dodge City. At all these points the sale and shipment of cattle rarely fell under 200,000 a year.

239. John J. Ingalls' Re-election.-The Legislature of 1879, on the 31st of January, re-elected John J. Ingalls United States Senator. The Legislature also elected George W. Martin State Printer for the fourth term.

240. Prohibition Amendment.-The last public act of Kansas in the decade of 1870-1880 which attracted the attention of the country was the passage, by the Legislature of 1879, of a joint resolution to submit to a vote of the people an amendment to the State Constitution forever prohibiting in Kansas the "manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors," except for medical and scientific purposes. The amendment was adopted at the general election in November, 1880, the vote standing 92,302 votes for the amendment to 84,304 against it.

The Legislature of 1881 passed the Act to enforce the provisions of the amendment, called the Prohibitory Law, the final vote in both Houses standing 132 ayes to 21 noes. After nearly twenty years the law has not been repealed, nor has the Constitutional Amendment, upon which it is based, been re-submitted to the people for their affirmation or rejection.

241. Railroad System.-In the year 1870, the railroad system of Kansas had but fairly commenced. In 1880 the State had been crossed and recrossed, and Kansas roads entered the Indian Territory and Colorado. In 1870 alone the Kansas Pacific sold 700,000 acres of land for $2,000,000; by the close of 1879, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe had disposed of 1,000,000 of its 3,000,000 acres.