OCTOBER 9.- ELECTION OF A. H. REEDER, DELEGATE TO CONGRESS. Place of Voting. No. Dist... 2 No. Votes.. Place of Voting. Rock Creek........ Black Vermilion. Pleasant Hill. Falls Precinct.. Hickory Point. Doniphan Palermo.. 10 11 12 13 Burr Oak. 14 Willow Springs... 54 Wolf River... Hampden........ Neosho.. No. Voles..*=*=889 30 22 13 8 OCTOBER 16.-Proclamation by the Free-State Committee, giving the names of the delegates to the Topeka Constitutional Convention. OCTOBER 20.-Thomas J. B. Cramer commissioned as Territorial Treasurer. OCTOBER 23.-Constitutional Convention meets at Topeka. The following is an incomplete list of the members of the Topeka Constitutional Convention: Secretary. Farmer Mass. Lawrence Republican Mass. ABSENT MEMBERS. Messrs. Brown, Burgess, Field, France, Graham, Morris, Nichols, Phenis, Riddle, Hamden, Smith, Stewart, Turner, Vandever. The Convention was called to order by J. A. Wakefield; prayer by Rev. Richard Knight; calling of the roll by Joel K. Goodin; twenty-one members, less than a quorum, present. OCTOBER 23.-The Kansas Daily Freeman issued at Topeka. E. C. K. Garvey, publisher; J. F. Cummings, printer. The Weekly Freeman was started in July. The daily edition was printed during the sessions of the Constitutional Convention. The Historical Society has copies of ten numbers of this paper. The size of the paper is eight by twelve inches, with three columns to a page. It is an evening paper. -Sale of lots at Lecompton. OCTOBER 24.-James H. Lane elected President of the Convention, receiving fifteen votes, to five for W. Y. Roberts, and four for J. A. Wakefield. Samuel C. Smith was elected Secretary, and Rev. H. B. Burgess, Chaplain. Samuel F. Tappan appeared as reporter for the Herald of Freedom, and John Speer for the Kansas Tribune. Lane's speech, on taking the chair, marked out very briefly the policy the Convention ought to pursue. Why he made the following assertion, it would be difficult now to tell: "When the Kansas-Nebraska bill was before Congress, no one of its supporters claimed that Kansas could ever become a Slave State; all, from the highest to the lowest, discarded the idea that slavery could ever be extended within her borders. Our Southern friends were among the most prominent in pressing this position before the country." James Redpath was given a seat as a reporter for the Missouri Democrat, Wm. A. Phillips for the New York Tribune, and Joseph L. Speer for the Chicago Tribune. Mr. Redpath was elected Reporter for the Convention. OCTOBER 25.--Samuel Collins killed by Patrick Laughlin, near Doniphan. Laughlin claimed originally to be a Free-State man, and became a member of the "Kansas Legion." He afterwards exposed this FreeState organization, and became a violent Pro-Slavery man. Gladstone thus describes the murder: "Mr. Collins, who owned a saw-mill at Doniphan, was shot on political grounds by a violent Pro-Slavery man, named Patrick Laughlin. Laughlin came, it is said, originally from Ireland, and had rendered himself famous by an exposure, as it was termed, of the Kansas Legion. Laughlin was aided in this attack by three or four armed associates, and Mr. Collins's sons were present, and sought to defend their father. There was considerable interchange of bowie-knife cuts and pistol-firing on this occasion, and the murderer himself was wounded. But the victim being a Free-State man, the law took no cognizance of the murder, and Laughlin found protection, and was rewarded by a situation in a shop in Atchison." This is the first political murder in Kansas, and the victim is a FreeState man. OCTOBER 26. The printing for the Convention was divided, E. C. K. Garvey, John Speer and M. W. Delahay each receiving a portion. -The vote on striking the word "white" out of the Constitution stood as follows: Yeas-Brown, Crosby, Hillyer, Hunting, Knight, Robinson, Schuyler-7. Nays-Arthur, Burson, Curtiss, Cutler, Delahay, Dodge, Hunt, Klotz, Lane, Latta, Landis, McDaniels, Mewhinney, Parrott, Roberts, Sayle, Smith, Thompson, Tuton, Wakefield, Hicks, Emery, Goodin, Holliday, Graham-25. OCTOBER 27.-Meeting of the Kansas Emigrant Aid Society, of Muscogee, held in Columbus, Ga., and addressed by Senators Toombs and Iverson. Nine hundred dollars raised for slavery in Kansas. Toombs says: "Kansas is the key to the great West, the high road to the Pacific. The struggle in the Territory is for empire; it is worthy of our best, our noblest efforts." OCTOBER 30.-John W. Whitfield receives his certificate as duly elected Delegate to the Thirty-fourth Congress. OCTOBER 31.-The Squatter Sovereign says of the murder of Collins: "Thus it is that the fight so long talked about has begun, and it is to be hoped that it will not be discontinued until Kansas Territory is rid of this 'higher-law' and blood-thirsty set of negro-thieves and outlaws." NOVEMBER 1.-Longfellow's poem issued, "The Song of Hiawatha." -William A. Phillips is the Kansas correspondent of the New York Tribune, and James Redpath of the St. Louis Democrat. The Tribune reports are very full. NOVEMBER. Governor Shannon advertises for proposals to erect capitol buildings at Lecompton. NOVEMBER. John Speer moves the Kansas Tribune from Lawrence to Topeka, and William W. Ross becomes his partner in its publication. NOVEMBER 5.-Josiah H. Pillsbury having resigned, J. H. Nesbitt was elected and admitted to the convention as a delegate from the Eighth District. NOVEMBER 6.-W. R. Griffith admitted as a delegate from the Sixth District, to the convention. M. F. Conway, elected a delegate, thus far prevented by sickness from taking a seat in the convention. NOVEMBER 11.-The convention completes its labor, and submits a constitution to the people. The fourth of March is appointed as the time for organizing the State Government. NOVEMBER 14.-A convention at Leavenworth organizes the "Law-andOrder" party. Governor Shannon presides. John Calhoun, Surveyor General, makes a bitter Pro-Slavery speech. J. H. Stringfellow, Daniel Woodson and Judge Lecompte are present. Marcus J. Parrott is hissed down. NOVEMBER. The scrip issued by the Free-State Executive Committee amounted to $15,265.90. The first Topeka Legislature, as required by the constitution, made provision for its redemption, but the laws of that body were only on paper, and the scrip was not paid. rence. NOVEMBER 21.-Charles W. Dow killed, by Franklin N. Coleman, ProSlavery, near Hickory Point, Douglas county. The Free-State men held a meeting on the 22d, at the scene of the murder. That night Sheriff Jones arrested Jacob Branson, with whom Dow had lived, for taking part in the Free-State meeting. Jones, with his prisoner and a posse of fourteen men, proceeded towards Lecompton, via Blanton. Near J. B. Abbott's house, at Blanton, Jones's party was confronted by fifteen FreeState men, among them Samuel N. Wood, J. B. Abbott, and Samuel F. Tappan. They requested Branson to leave the Sheriff's party; he did so. Jones sent to Shawnee Mission for aid. A meeting was held in Lawrence, and was addressed by Branson. A mob from Missouri was feared, and the citizens were placed under arms. On the 2d of December, Free-State companies from Bloomington, Wakarusa and Palmyra had arrived in Lawrence. Jones, with a body-guard, rode through LawGen. Richardson and staff dined with J. H. Lane. A company of 100 armed Free-State men arrived from Topeka at nine in the evening. On Monday, the 3d, a proclamation was received from Gov. Shannon calling upon all good citizens to aid the sheriff in the recapture of Branson. It was dated November 29. A public meeting, through Chas. Robinson, chairman, reported that there was no association of lawless men in Lawrence. The roar of the cannon at Franklin, where the invaders are massed, is occasionally heard in the FreeState town. On Tuesday, the 4th, it is reported that Judge Cato's court has found bills of indictment against the leading Free-State men. Loaded wagons destined for Lawrence are stopped and robbed of provisions and ammunition, Messengers are sent to Gov. Shannon, asking him to remove the mob which is menacing Lawrence. Dr. C. Robinson is elected Commander-in-Chief, and the citizen soldiery is fully organized. On Friday, the 7th, news is received of the murder of Thomas W. Barber, the previous afternoon, while returning to his home, near Bloomington, from Lawrence. He was accompanied by his brother, Robert Barber, and his brother-in-law, Thos. Pierson. Four miles southwest of Lawrence they met twelve horsemen, who were going to Franklin. The Free-State men, refusing to surrender, were fired upon. One ball passed through the body of Thomas W. Barber; he rode a short distance, fell, and expired. His body was brought to Lawrence, which he had so lately been engaged in defending. Gov. Shannon arrives, and consults with Robinson and Lane. Shannon, at night, goes to Franklin. John Brown and four sons, all armed, are in LawOn Saturday, the 8th, Gov. Shannon again appears, with Col. Boone, of Westport, Mo., and one or two others. News is received that rence. S. C. Pomeroy, who had left Lawrence to go to the Eastern States, is a prisoner at Franklin. The body of Barber is temporarily buried. Robinson and Lane go back to the Pro-Slavery camp with Shannon. Sunday morning, December 9th, was extremely cold. Negotiations with Gov. Shannon were finally completed, and were made known by Lane and Robinson. A supper for Gov. Shannon was arranged for Monday night; he was not present. It was a joyful occasion for the citizens. On Tuesday, the 11th, the volunteer companies from other towns took their departure. Of Gov. Shannon, the Herald of Freedom says: "He came, learned the facts, and, like an honorable man, has done what he could to retrace his steps." On Saturday, the 15th, a public funeral was given to the remains of Thos. W. Barber. The sermon was preached at the Free-State Hotel, by Rev. L. B. Dennis; addresses were delivered by Lane and Robinson. Lane said Dow and Barber were the first martyrs of freedom in Kansas, and monuments should be erected to their memory. -There was a Hickory Point ten miles south of Lawrence, on the Santa Fé road, and another Hickory Point in Jefferson county. It was at the former place that Dow was killed. The Free-State resistance to an officer, Samuel J. Jones, who was the Sheriff of Douglas county, and Postmaster of Westport, Mo., led to the "Wakarusa War,” as it was called, the Pro-Slavery militia being called into the field as a Sheriff's posse, to aid him in making arrests and executing the law. NOVEMBER 25.-"Lane's Thanksgiving" proclamation, as it was called, issued. It was brief and political, and made Christmas the Thanksgiving day. It was "given at the office of the Executive Committee of Kansas Territory, in the City of Topeka;" signed by J. H. Lane, Chairman, and attested by J. K. Goodin, Secretary. NOVEMBER 27.-Secretary Daniel Woodson writes to Gen. Eastin to proceed to Lecompton with his division. "As the Governor has no power," he says, "you may call out the Platte Rifle Company; they are always ready to help us. Whatever you do, do not implicate the Governor." The Platte Rifles were in Missouri. NOVEMBER 27.—Sheriff Jones writes to Gov. Shannon that "open rebellion" exists, and calls for "three thousand men to carry out the laws." NOVEMBER 27.-Gov. Shannon orders Maj. Gen. Wm. P. Richardson, of the Territorial Militia, "to collect as large a force as you can in your division, and repair without delay to Lecompton, and report yourself to S. J. Jones, Sheriff of Douglas county." A similar order is sent to Hiram J. Strickler, Adjutant General. NOVEMBER 28.-Gov. Shannon informs President Pierce of a fearful state of affairs. He says: "It is vain to conceal the fact; we are standing on a volcano." NOVEMBER 28.-Lucien J. Eastin, Brigadier General, orders his brigade to arms, there being "a state of open rebellion" in Douglas county. |