[NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD.]

[REV. S. D. HINMAN: LABORS AMONG INDIANS.]

More than twenty years ago the Rev. Mr. Hinman went, alone and unprotected by any save He who touches with a finger of love, tenders and softens the hardest hearts, to the lodges of the Indians on the Minnesota River, where he commenced camp life as one of their own number, and when they were satisfied of his good intentions, he commenced the work of instruction the children and their mothers, and through them he reached the wild and war-like fathers.

In the Indian war of 1861, Mr. Hinman was warned of impending danger by his Indian friends in time to take them to a military post for protection, and after the storm was over, they were removed to Dakota Territory where many of them died of starvation during the first winter. Here they built a chapel and also established three stations or outposts. The work of civilizing and christianizing Sioux Indians had a small beginning, but it has been blessed and continuous to advance.

Four Indian clergymen, two of whom are full blood Sioux, are now engaged on the proof sheets of a bible and common prayer book which are being printed in their own language. They now have several publications of their own and among which is the "Gospel among the Dakotas" which we think would interest any of our readers. Nine of the tribe became ministers and preach the gospel to their own people and in their own language, often at the risk of their lives.

One of these pioneers of the gospel was waylaid and killed by a brother in ambush, and another froze to death. Meetings for religious worship are attended by Indians from every quarter of the reservation; they have a full blood organist and a full blood choir.

[EDITORIAL COLUMNS.]

A committee composed of Wm. Allison, Cliff. Wood, Frank Williams, Rev. Platter, E. C. Manning, and Dr. Mansfield from Winfield visited this place Tuesday, March 27, for the purpose of combining an east and west railroad proposition with the Walnut Valley project. A meeting was held in Pearson's Hall in the afternoon, and a committee of seven elected to meet and confer with them, composed of Amos Walton, James Benedict, Frank Lorry, S. P. Channell, C. R. Mitchell, J. C. McMullen, and C. M. Scott.

The committee from this place agreed to unite the two propositions if they could be voted on at the same time on the same ballot, and if it was not legal to vote for both on the same ballot, then they wanted the Winfield people to vote for the Walnut Valley project first, and our people would give them every reasonable assurance and pledges that they would support the proposition offered, or any definite project from the east.

No positive agreement could be made and the matter was

adjourned.

Col. Manning admitted that a proposition he read for the Parsons raod had not been accepted by the railroad company, but that he would make the company accept it.

They returned by the Parsons route proposed, and in their estimation found a good route. The franchise is being worked up as far as the east line of Elk county.

In Elk county the petition had been signed by a sufficient number, but they preferred to change the proposition from township bonds to county bonds, as the recent change in the railroad law made it possible to carry county bonds.

Winfield feels that an election for railroad bonds at this time would be premature, and prefers to wait until the other counties have voted and secured a line to Cowley county.

Rev. Platter thought Col. Manning had given a true version of the case as it now stood, and said that Mr. Hamilton, a civil engineer, wanted Winfield to call an election for the Parsons road. He believed that the present proposition of the Emporia road ws such as would not be sustained at all, there being clauses which, in his estimation, could not be changed to suit at all.

He said Winfield wanted an east and west proposition submitted at the same time that the north and south proposition was submitted, and that if Arkansas City wanted a north and south road, she must consent to an east and west road to secure the support of Winfield.

C. M. Scott moved to appoint a committee of seven to confer with the Winfield delegation, and see if a compromise could not be agreed upon. After considerable discussion, the motion was seconded, and the following committee appointed: Frank Lorry, of Bolton, Amos Walton, C. R. Mitchell, S. P. Channell, James Benedict, C. M. Scott, and Col. McMullen.

NOTE THE PARAGRAPH WHEREIN WINFIELD WOULD NOT BACK A NORTH/SOUTH ROAD UNLESS ARKANSAS CITY WENT ALONG AT THE SAME TIME WITH AN EAST/WEST ROAD TO WINFIELD...OTHER PAPERS PICKED UP ON THIS MOVEMENT BY THE WINFIELD PEOPLE AND OBJECTED!

---

[FIRE: CEDAR VALE.]

[INDIAN HERALD ITEMS.]

[PERSONALS.]

NEWMAN wants all the wheat he can buy.

KICKAPOOS are coming in from the hunt.

OSAGES say the eagle is not the king of birds.

We must have more dwelling houses in town.

MR. SAMUEL HOYT left this morning for Canada.

OSAGES think the sun sets in a hole in the ground.

THOS. E. BERRY purchased A. O. Porter's house yesterday.

MISS MATTIE MITCHELL has recovered sufficiently to sit up in bed.

JAMES I. MITCHELL sold seventeen set of harness to the Osages this week.

BERRY BROS. sold over $200 worth of groceries to the Pawnees last week.

A printer by the name of Norton called this week. He was on his spring's wandering tour.

MR. FINLEY, who bought a part of the Wilson farm north of town, last fall, will be here this week.

The survey of the Arkansas City and Independence State road began at this place late today.

The fire last week in South Bend destroyed full grown hedges, several stables, and a quantity of corn.

H. P. STANDLEY made a trip to Wichita this week to "prove up" on his 80 acre claim, near Grouse creek.

SHERB HUNT's house came very near being destroyed by fire last Friday. It caught from the stove pipe.

[CITY ELECTION.]

Mayor: Dr. Kellogg.

Police Judge: Jas. Christian.

Councilmen: James Benedict, H. P. Farrar,

James I. Mitchell, H. Godehard,

I. H. Bonsall.

[MORE PERSONALS.]

MR. ABNER LEMERT, OF CEDARVALE, AND I. H. BONSALL, OF ARKANSAS CITY, appointed Road Commissioners to locate State Road from Arkansas City, in Cowley county, to Independence, Montgomery county, met at Arkansas City, Monday, April 2nd, and elected

J. S. Cotton to fill the vacancy occasioned by I. H. Pugh's absence. After being sworn in, Mr. Lemert was elected Chairman and I. H. Bonsall, secretary.

NEW ARRIVALS. On the night of the 29th of March, at the residences of two of our citizens, Judge Christian and J. M. Holloway, each of said families have two additional mouths to provide for. The youngsters are all pert and lively. With this kind of immigration, Cowley will soon take rank with the most populous counties in the State.

PONY SALE. Thirty head of ponies were sold at Cheyenne Agency last Saturday, being the property of Richard Wanamaker, who was murdered by Dick Simpson near Cheyenne Agency on November 24th, 1876.

DIED. Of consumption, on Saturday, March 31st, after many weeks of painful suffering, James Barr, aged 25 years. He leaves a wife and three children. The burial ceremony was performed on last Sunday.

The employees on the Arkansas City and Independence State road are John Myrtle, surveyor; J. C. Evans and Marshal Evans, chairmen; P. Lorry, flagman, W. J. Gray, marksman; Chas. Balcom, cook; Jas. Jordon and a man from Cedar Vale, teamsters, and the three Commissioners, I. H. Bonsall, J. S. Cotton, of Montgomery county, and A. Lemert of Chautauqua county.

BADLY BURNED. MR. COLLINS, living near Flat Station, set fire to the grass Monday evening, while his two little children were close by, and the flames caught the clothes of his little girl, and before they could be subdued, burned her so badly that it is doubtful if she will recover, and even is she should, it is thought her arm would have to be amputated.

A PROPOSITION to include the road from town to the Arkansas river bridge, into this road district, has been suggested by Judge McIntire and meets with general favor. By that means the road tax of this district could be used to good advantage in making it a passable road. Heretofore all the road tax has not been expended.

A meeting of the board of Creswell and Bolton Townships will be held at the bridge Friday morning at ten o'clock to examine the Arkansas river bridge and decide upon repairing it.

AGENT BEEDE, wife and daughter were here yesterday. Also, Mr. Hopkins, of Osage Agency. It is a pleasure to see such representatives of the peace commissioners as Mr. Beede.

CHARLES McINTIRE, who has been in Arkansas for several months, returned last week. Will Leonard, who went with him, remained there. Charley don't go much on that region.

RUNAWAY. A team belonging to Mr. Stansburry, ran with a wagon a distance of six miles yesterday. They started up the Arkansas and ran into town before they were stopped.

WAGA-res-sa-gab-ha, (Ed. Finney), is visiting Osage Agency this week. The above is his Indian name, and means "make write," or the man that writes.

JUDGE CHRISTIAN's twins are doing finely. The little fellows are as pert as crickets, and as playful as kittens.

[BUSINESS NOTICES.]

[RETAIL MARKET.]

[BRIDGE NOTICE.]

[SALT CITY ITEMS.]

[MORE PERSONALS.]

Prairie fires can be seen every night.

The Kaw Indians are dying at a fearful rate.

While some of the leaders of Winfield oppose the present offer of a railroad, all the mechanics and laboring men know it will be for their interests, and will vote for it.

Misses Emma Burden, Sallie Levering, Sarah E. Davis, Jennie Hanse, Ida Roberts, Arvilla Elliott, Mary Tucker, Effie Randall, Mary Lynn Emma Saint, Dora Winslow.

Mrs. M. S. Tucker, Mr. S. J. Hospell, Mrs. A. R. Houser, Mrs. Adelia Baird.

[RAILROAD REJECTED.]

[SOME FIGURES RE NARROW/STANDARD GAUGE RAILROADS.]

[EDITORIAL COLUMNS.]

From a gentleman who has just returned from Fort Sill, we learn that a fight took place between eight hunters and a band of 250 Quahada Comanche renegade Indians known as Mauwa's band, who have been absent from the Agency some time, in the Pan Handle of Texas, about 200 miles west of the Kiowa and Comanche Agency, not far from Double Mountain. The whites had lost some ponies and followed the trail until they came upon them in a ravine, when one man held the horses while the seven went to fight. Finding more Indians than they expected, the man left had to tie the horses, in order to help. The Indians seeing the horses tied ran upon them and stampeded them. The hunters finally had to beat a retreat, following a creek all day, in order to keep out of sight. The Indians, thinking that there were a number of whites, did not push them, so that by several days hard travel they reached a trading post and were safe. In the fight "Spotted Jack," a half-breed darkey, was wounded in the left thigh. D. Cairns, who came up the road with a load of buffalo meat, last week, had been with Marshall Sewell, of Missouri, who had been killed a few days before the fight took place. There are about 500 buffalo hunters in the Pan Handle, and a company of 100 men was organized and started in pursuit of the band that murderead Sewell, from Charley Rath's ranche. Also a company of soldiers from Fort Griffin, Texas, and two from Fort Sill, Indian Terri-tory, and two from Fort Elliot, Texas.

The above report comes direct from Mr. N. A. Haight, and we believe will be substantiated.

["A. W." LASHES OUT AT EDITOR E. C. MANNING.]

Nail Down the Hatchways!

Prepare for Action.

You see it makes some difference who is to handle the bonds as to how much the county ought to give--according to some people's notions. Now we will make a quotation to show the unfairness of this article, and the evident determination of the writer, whose malignant feeling toward Arkansas City is shown in every line. We quote:

"Without coming to any agreement, the gentlemen went to Arkansas City, and soon thereafter we find men in every township in the county from Arkansas City, circulating petitions."

An omission of the writer makes a lie and a misstatement in the above as much so as though he had put it into words. He should have been sworn to tell the whole truth.

He forgot to tell the people of Cowley county that the gentlemen representing the road returned to Winfield, and with them a deputation of the best citizens of Arkansas City, and that they stayed all day; and that the citizens of Winfield would not even get together in a room and state what modifications they wanted, nor listen to any terms of agreement, but treated the citizens of their neighboring city with such marked disrespect as to amount almost to insult; that they said, in effect, "Winfield controls the county--when we get ready to say the word, Arkansas City and the country townships can walk up to the trough and drink, and not until then."

After this, in the same article, comes a statement in regard to a committee from Winfield visiting Arkansas City, and again the writer's memory proves treacherous, and he only states that their committee offered to put in $100,000 each for an east and west and a north and south road--forgetting entirely to state that they offered to give $120,000 to a north and south road, and take just enough to bring an east and west road to the city of Winfield, and no further.

He forgot, also, to state that they had no reliable, reasonable project to present at Arkansas City, or anywhere else, in regard to a road from the east.

To conclude this article, I would make this one observation in the shape of an appeal to all fair minded citizens, and especially to the farmers and producers of the county: There is in the article referred to a feeling of malignity exhibited against a thriving village in your midst, in which you cannot share. It may be only the embers of a bitter political controversy, only existing in the mind of one man, and it may be the feeling of property holders in the city of Winfield, who think that they will be largely benefitted by anything which will destroy the growth of a sister town. But neither reason applies to the large majority of the citizens of the county. Every dollar of taxable property added to either city helps the county so much towards lightening the burden of taxation, and is an aid to them.

A. W.

[COMMUNICATION FROM "L" TO SCOTT.]

[STORY ABOUT BENDER FAMILY.]

[COWLEY COUNTY DIVIDED: RAILROADS.}

Cowley county is divided on her railroad projects. Arkansas City and the north part of the county are in favor of the Kansas City, Emporia & Southern road, while Winfield is opposed to it and wants only an east and west road. If this road cannot get through Cowley, it will have to go round it and into Sumner, where the people are ready and anxious to get it and will doubtless vote the requisite aid. Emporia News.

[COMMUNICATION FROM "ROBINSON CRUSOE" - RED FORK RANCH, I. T.]

[PROPOSALS FOR INDIAN SUPPLIES, GOODS, AND TRANSPORTATION.]

[PERSONALS.]

GARDNER & CO.'s new drug store will be opened next week.

O. P. HOUGHTON had about eighty rods of fence destroyed by the prairie fire east of the Walnut, last Thursday.

W. W. WALTON has been tendered a position as clerk in the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

WILL MOWRY has severed his connection with E. D. Eddy, after five years steady application, on account of his health.

CORN AND OATS. Bids will be received at Fort Leavenworth, until May 8th, for corn and oats, to be delivered at Fort Gibson, Reno, and Sill, and elsewhere.

THOS. CALLAHAN circulated a petition last week asking the Township Trustee to call out a force of men to destroy the festive hoppergrass, under the law of last winter.

M. E. WELCH, the contractor and superintendent of the stone work upon the M. E. Church building in this place, is a well skilled mechanic and is executing tip-top work in hand. When completed, it will be a credit to him as well as to the city.

The officers of the east and west railroad from Cherokee are Matthewson and L. S. Hamilton of Parsons, J. McCune, of Crawford county, Col. Wilson, of Fort Scott, G. W. Brown, I. W. Lucas,

J. N. Dennis, of Cherokee, backed by Mr. Kimball, of New York.

MR. JAMES WILSON, of Leavenworth, wrote E. D. Eddy that he would ship his stock of dry goods to this place on Monday, and that he and his family would reach here about Saturday. The church of which he is a member in Leavenworth gave a party in honor of his departure last week.

CHEAP LANDS. In another column will be seen a long list of lands advertised by the Arkansas City Bank, that are offered at very reasonable rates, for cash or on time. Any man with a few hundred dollars could make a purchase from the list that would pay him fifty percent on the money invested when the railroad comes.

[KANSAS STATE MILITIA.]

Col. G. H. Norton, Arkansas City.

Capt. A. D. Keith, Arkansas City.

Capt. J. R. Musgrove, South Haven.

Capt. R. Hoffmaster, Arkansas City.

Capt. E. R. Evans, Winfield.

Lieut. Geo. Wagstaff, Guelph.

Capt. E. B. Kager, Winfield.

Capt. T. J. Riley, Wellington.

Capt. W. S. Coburn, Arkansas City.

Capt. R. W. McNown, Maple City.

Capt. E. M. Hewins, Cedarvale.

Capt. C. W. Rambo, Elk Falls.

Capt. J. W. Vannoy, Elgin.

[WINFIELD CITY ELECTION RESULTS.]

[BIG AD: WILSON'S CENTRAL STORE.]

[ITEMS FROM THE WELLINGTON PRESS.]

Mr. S. S. Sisson sold one of his carriage horses to an Indian chief at Cheyenne Agency last week. The Indian was a good judge of horse flesh.

Winfield, desirous of being a railroad terminus, snubs Arkansas City, which is affected by the same laudable ambition. Either is willing, however, to dispense with a railroad, rather than let the other have one. Meanwhile, the farmers, who are most interested, are compelled to haul their wheat fifty miles to market. 'Twas ever thus since the earliest settlement of Cowley.

This action, as we understand it, precipitates a square fight between Winfield and Arkansas City, and will unite almost solidly, the western and southern portions of the county in fierce and concentrated opposition to the proposition submitted. The proposition being gotten up and submitted in the interests of Winfield, utterly ignores the interests of the people of the largest, and by far the better half, of the entire county; and it remains to be seen whether they will submit to the imposition of being taxed enormously and for years to come merely for the benefit of the politicians and property owners of Winfield.

In the meantime, petitions are in circulation, praying for the submission of a proposition to vote township aid for the north and south road, on a line west of the Walnut, to terminate at Arkansas City.

The people are warming up to the work, and between fighting the festive grasshopper, circulating petitions, and canvassing for votes, are likely to be actively employed for the next six weeks to come. Wellington Press.

[PERSONALS.]

A lot of strolling Kaw Indians are in town.

WM. SPEERS repaired the boiler of his engine this week.

Mr. A. Wilson, of Leavenworth, is here and ready for business.

THOS. BAKER has removed his barber shop to the basement of the City Hotel building.

A continuous brick sidewalk and awning is to be built from Mr. Wilson's store room to Benedict's corner.

A large prairie fire extended over the cemetery and a great portion of the country west of it Monday evening.

A meeting was held at Mercer's school house Monday evening, at which it was decided every man should take care of his own grasshoppers.

The Memphis road leaves Tisdale out in the cold. We don't see the object of it exactly, unless Winfield still entertains fears of losing the county seat.

Two prominent and extensive farmers of Creswell and Bolton townships, M. R. Leonard and Frank Lorry, are enthusiastic for the Kansas City railroad.

The parties that passed through this place with a wagon, carpet sack, and camping outfit, were Col. E. H. Topping and Hon. Ed. Smith, of Miami county, and Hon. T. P. Connard, of Lincoln, Nebraska, commissioners appointed by the Secretary of the Interior to appraise fifty miles square of the Indian Territory, in pursuance of the treaty of 1866 made with the Cherokee Indians. They had a cook, teamster, and secretary. The work will take about four months, for which each commissioner gets eight dollars per day and expenses.

The increase of intemperance is more apparent every day. The record of last week shows five men all "how-come-you-so?" at one time, and one perfectly helpless lying on the sidewalk at full length, entirely insensible--and still we have no saloon.

[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, APRIL 18, 1877.]

MR. LEANDER FINLEY, an old and esteemed citizen, having resided in this county over twenty years, moved westward, Wednesday, and will settle at Arkansas City, Kansas. He took with him a lot of fine stock, which will be a valuable importation to that section. Monmouth (Ill.) Atlas.

A dispatch from Fort Smith says the Keafor family, arrested on the charge of being the Kansas Benders, after an examination before United States Judge Parker, were released. The parties from Kansas failed to identify them.

Two gentlemen from Elk City and Longton report that it will be impossible to carry any bonds for the Parsons narrow gauge road from east to west, for the reason that there are none but standard gauge roads to connect with.

The County Commissioners called the election for the Parsons road May 22nd, instead of the 15th, as we were informed last week. The election proclamation was ordered published in but one paper in the county.

The County Commissioners met last Monday to act on the railroad petitions of Rock, Nennescah, Beaver, Cresswell, and Bolton townships.

FIVE PETITIONS for saloon licenses are in circulation, and one man offers to give $500 for the exclusive privilege to retail liquors.

[BUSINESS NOTICES.]

[FROM THE SEDAN JOURNAL.]

Mayor S. P. Channell, and J. H. Sherburne, of Arkansas City, were in town on Tuesday to attend the meeting of the railroad directors. They report Arkansas City and the Southern part of Cowley county as being in full sympathy with us, and ready to cooperate for an east and west road.

[PETITION FOR SPECIAL ELECTION.]

[Beginning April 25, 1877.]

[RAILROAD FACTS: BY JAMES CHRISTIAN.]

A FEW FACTS ON RAILROAD.

But to resume, Cowley county is comprised of twenty-two municipal townships, and a population of over ten thousand five hundred souls, if everyone has a soul, which seems doubtful by their act. Seven thousand five hundred of the population is in the Walnut Valley. A road up and down the valley would accommodate two thirds of our present and prospective resident tax payers and build up two prosperous towns where the comforts and conveniences of civilization would center for the benefit of the great farming and producing class of the country as well as the improvement of our species.

All these benefits must be thwarted to gratify a hell engendered spirit of revenge of a few sore head politicians and disappointed office seekers whose principles are rule or ruin. Citizens of Winfield and Cowley county, the day is coming, and is not far distant, when you will curse in your bitter wrath the memory of the men that are now plotting your destruction under the false and delusive pretense of being your friends.

Take down the map of your county, examine it closely, see where its best lands lay, see for yourselves if you are not blinded by local prejudices or actuated by the most vindictive hate to a sister village of your own county, that can in no shape or manner be a rival to your commercial and financial prosperity where the bulk of our population lays. Don't let passion subjugate your judgment, you have the County Seat, the public offices, and a favorable location for a thriving business town.

Abandon your trumped up East & West company, you know that it is a myth, an iguis pat-n-us, a jack-nith o lantern.

Unite with the friends of Cowley county in putting through a proposition that will accommodate the great bulk of our citizens. As I said before, two-thirds of our voters and taxpayers reside in the Walnut Valley. This section of our county, as you all know, is the great wheat and grain producing region. East of the Walnut is more broken and better adapted to stock raising, a species of farming that does not so early need a railroad, but which it will have in due season.

[COMMUNICATION FROM "SAMUEL THOMPSON" - TISDALE.]

Many speeches were made, and many who were never known to make a public speech in their lives, gave vent to their feelings on this occasion, and held the floor for some time.

On the same evening a meeting was held in the Jarvis school house in the north part of Sheridan township. The floor was held the greater part of the evening by a man named Thomas. This man Thomas lives near Mount Contention, and whether he spoiled the Mount or the Mount spoiled him, we were unable to tell; but one thing we do know: he was very contentious. From the amount of information we could obtain, even as far north as that locality, the greater part were against the humbug.

It is the full opinion of the community, as far as I have heard, that the company is not a responsible one, that their man never was worth anything in his life, and is reported to be worth nothing now, and is a mere railroad adventurer.

The matter is hurried upon us without giving us any opportunity of judging for or against it, and this is done for a

purpose.

Never were truer remarks penned by man, than those of Rev. Platter, of Winfield, in writing from Philadelphia last summer to the Winfield Courier. He stated that eastern capitalists and railroad companies looked upon the people of Kansas as a people who wished to make their living by their wits, and not by solid industry. So it is at the present time. Some sharpers wish to make a pile by their wits, and not by any honest principle.

As we have no confidence in the company; as we have no certainty that the road would be built even if the bonds were voted, but perhaps bring us into a disagreeable litigation without any return; and as the whole matter seems to be rotten, let us by all means vote it down, and when the time comes to vote bonds for a road, let them at least have a better appearance of value than the present proposition.

SAMUEL THOMPSON.

[MORE ON BENDERS/MISTAKE BY THOMAS BEERS IN IDENTITYING THEM.]

Thomas Beers, of this city, formerly jailer of the county, was deputy sheriff of Labette county at the time of the terrible Bender murders. He knew the Benders well. He stayed at a hotel where the notorious Kate worked for some time. He was the man who discovered the body of Dr. York. He has always believed he could find them, and was at one time close upon their track. Owing to circumstances he could not control, and because other detectives were favored above him, he gave up the chase until the administration changed.

As soon as Governor Anthony took the reins, Beers renewed his efforts, and urged an appropriation for the purpose of capturing the worst set of murderers who have stained the annals of crime. He finally received such encouragement from Governor Anthony as to go in search of the criminals himself. He claimed all the time that he knew where they were, because he had formerly lived in the same section of Arkansas where the criminals are now residing.

It would seem that Mr. Beers made a mistake, and did not know the Benders as well as he thought he did.

[COMMUNICATION TO TRAVELER: SOURCE NOT GIVEN.]

Had an impartial observer happened to be at the county seat of Cowley county, on Monday and Tuesday last, he would have thought that the right of the people of Bolton, Creswell, Beaver, and Rock townships to peacefully petition the Commissioners on a matter entirely concerning themselves, was denied by prominent citizens of Winfield, who were in full force, to say that no railroad proposition should be entertained, unless the citizens of Winfield were consulted, and allowed to fix the route.

Not only that, but the citizens of Winfield insisted and did fix the day upon which the petitioners should vote, although every petitioner had asked for a different day, giving as their reason that they did not want to lose two days in the busy season.

Yet Manning, Millington & Co. insisted upon fixing the time, and carried the day. But after the two days struggle, the elections were ordered. The people of four of the largest townships in the county are now permitted to say whether they want a railroad or not.

Winfield will graciously permit them to vote if she cannot help it. She will allow them to market their grain at their very doors if she cannot force them to come to her. She will allow them to have stations, depots, and towns in their midst, if she cannot defeat the railroad, which is to build to them. It now remains to be seen whether a selfish policy, which would grasp everything in Cowley county, can succeed. If so, Winfield will be ahead.

[ANOTHER RAILROAD ITEM: AUTHOR UNKNOWN.]

A narrow gauge road six miles in the township will give on its road bed $42,000 valuation with a proportion of the selling stock of the road. The station and a few stores will add $2,000 more taxable valuation, and it will also bring every man in the township within three miles of a shipping point. A township can very easily stand a larger tax when you raise the taxable valuation $100,000.

There was a man in Winfield who thought a majority of the votes in Rock was not equal to two fifths of the resident tax payers.

Winfield, after driving away a live prospect from the practical railroad men, and leaving Rock, Tisdale, Dexter, and other townships out in the cold, is now crying out, "Thou canst not say I did it." But the deed is done; the townships east and west propose to build their own roads and enjoy them at home.

Howard City and Elk City having united in the support of the Emporia narrow gauge road wraps the binding sheet around the Parsons, Winfield, Ellsworth, and Puget Sound road.

In justice to the feelings of Winfield, it should be "laid away tenderly, buried with care; fashioned so slenderly, young and so fair."

[ANOTHER BENDER ARTICLE.]

The fact that the two stories came from entire different sources, both pretending to reveal the facts of the death of the Benders by lynching, is significant, to say the least. If true, it is very strange the authorities knew nothing of it. It is absolutely certain that Gov. Osborn did not.

[EDITORIAL COLUMNS.]

[K. C., E. & S. R. R.: KANSAS CITY, EMPORIA & SOUTHERN RAILROAD]

The banks failed, the crash came, and the chimerical schemes vanished. Then the mania relapsed into the greatest revulsion against anything that ran on a track. Candidates for United States Senator even distained to ride on the cars, and meandered to Topeka in farm wagons. This was the memorable "hay seed" era, and no man was considered available for office unless he could establish beyond controversy, his opposition to railroads from infancy. It may be remakred this was no difficult task for the average Kansas politician.

So from one extreme, the people went to the other, and instead of being all in favor of railroads, they were nearly all opposed to them.

The panic gave men time to cogitate, if not the opportunity to look about them and get their bearings. Now after four years of observation and study, during which time the State is well nigh restored to financial health, they are prepared to act more intelligently and support a sounder policy.

THEN COMES A PITCH FOR RAILROADS TO GO TO KANSAS CITY...AND NOT TO ST. LOUIS!

[NARROW GAUGE PROSPECTS: EMPORIA NEWS.]

The A. T. & S. F. company is taking an active part against the narrow gauge. Of all things they do not want a competing line through Southwestern Kansas, and especially do they dislike the idea of competing with a narrow gauge. They have their agents and bummers at work circulating all sorts of stories in regard to the narrow gauge proposition.

Among other things, they took the pains to send to Chicago to pry into the private affairs of the gentlemen who propose to invest in the narrow gauge, and are now circulating stories to the effect that the company has no money. That is an old dodge, and was played on the Santa Fe company when they were talking of building that line. Such stories are not worth a moment's attention.

We have seen the most emphatic and satisfactory statements from the leading bankers of Chicago that the narrow gauge company is entirely able to undertake the enterprise. We urge the people not to be turned aside by stories told by parties interested in other projects. Emporia News.

[ITEMS FROM THE TELEGRAM.]

Messrs. Channell, Walton, Houghton, and others, of Arkansas City, represented that city before the Board of County Commissioners, in the North & South Railroad matter.

[PERSONALS.]

The mill on Grouse creek has been abandoned.

We are sorry to learn of the death of Capt. J. B. Nipp's wife.

Mr. Chamberlain traded for Mr. Burkey's brick house this week.

LUMBER. MR. SILAS PARKER will open a lumber yard at this place next week.

JACK McCLOSKY sold his interest in the Sha-was-cos-pa mill to B. B. Spencer.

DIED. On Friday evening, of consumption, Mrs. Olds, aged about forty years.

THE WALNUT has been raging for several days, and the necessity of the bridge realized.

Two calves belonging to Mr. Simms were carried down the Walnut last week by the high water.

RUDOLPH HOFFMASTER intends going to the mountains soon, and proposes to sell everything he has.

The freighters who went into the Territory loaded with corn, got to racing, and had a general smash up.

Dr. Shepard returned from St. Louis Monday evening. While there he purchased the drugs for L. H. Gardner's store.

Mr. Lewis tried the ford at Murdock's after Mr. Rhodes went downstream, and returned home to tell his friends he got wet.

If Standley hadn't made the shore when he was plunged from his horse into the mighty Walnut, he would have been cold meat by this time.

Mr. Smith, one of the Commissioners to appraise the Indian lands, made us a pleasant call Monday. His camp at present will be on Bodoc creek, sixteen miles south of this place.

CAPT. O. C. SMITH, who left this place about three years ago to accept a position on a Lake Erie boat, returned last week. The Captain is an old-time resident of Cowley County.

Agent Burgess, at Pawnee Agency, expects his successor to arrive every day. Mr. Burgess' health did not permit him to stay with the Indians, and they all express regret that he is compelled to leave them.

NARROW ESCAPE. While H. P. Standley was attempting to cross the Walnut at Harmon's ford, last Sunday, his horse went down and he was compelled to leave him and swim ashore in order to save himself. After struggling a few minutes, the horse came to the surface, turned about and made its way to the bank. Mr. Standley did not see the animal until he came back in a boat, and had thought it was drowned. Being a good swimmer is all that saved him from a watery grave.

MR. RHODES, with Mr. Ela's team, was washed down the Walnut last Friday evening, as he was crossing at Murdock's ford. The team and wagon landed on an island a short distance below the ford. Mr. Rhodes complains that there was no water gauge to indicate the depth of the water. Road overseers should see that every stream of any importance has sign posts showing the depth of the water. The law imposes a heavy fine for the neglect of it.

DIED. Of consumption, March 30th, after two years of almost continuous confinement, Mrs. Martilda A. Mouser, of Beaver township. She leaves a husband and three children to mourn her loss, besides a large circle of relatives and friends. She was a member of the church, and for many years lived a consistent Christian life. Her brother, E. G. Brown, died four days later, of heart disease, at Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California.

F. BROWN.

The Commissioners appointed to appraise the fifty mile strip of the Cherokee land in the Indian Territory, have their camp at present on Shilocco. They expect a company of soldiers to join them before they start west. The object of the appraisement of the lands is to locate and sell it to friendly Indians, according to the treaty of 1866. Many Pawnees are already occupying a portion of the reserve.

A company of soldiers arrived here this week to accompany the Commissioners in the Territory. Their work begins on the west side of the Arkansas river at this place, thence west to Colorado on the north line, and to the Pan Handle of Texas on the south line, including a strip nearly 300 miles long by fifty-four in breadth, and is for the purpose of locating friendly Indians on.

MARRIED. On Thursday, April 19th, by Rev. Platter, John M. Reid and Miss Lizzie Ross, both of Winfield.

On the same evening, by Rev. Rushbridge, James Vance, of Wichita, and Miss Jennie McGaahy, of Winfield.

The City Council met and organized last Saturday. Wm. Sleeth was appointed Treasurer and I. H. Bonsall City Clerk. No Marshal or Street Commissioner was appointed. The officers are: Mayor. H. H. Kellogg; Police Judge, Jas. Christian; Councilmen: James Benedict, H. P. Farrar, J. I. Mitchell, H. Godehard, and

I. H. Bonsall.

READ the railroad propositions to the townships of Rock Creek, Beaver, Creswell, and Bolton, and see if they are not the best that have ever been offered to the people--especially those of Rock Creek and Beaver townships. Nenescah and Vernon are determined to have similar ones, and the line will then be complete.

SILVER. Great excitement prevails east of Lazette from the discovery of silver ore on the Flint Hills. A specimen was sent to St. Louis to be assayed, and the assayest wrote that he would come immediately to the place where it was discovered, as it was of an extraordinary quality.

DICK WALKER, MAYOR OF WINFIELD AND SHERIFF OF THIS COUNTY, was in town yesterday with his deputy, Burt Covert, in search of John Barber, who attempted to rape his half sister at Dexter last week, and was shot in the head by her brother, the ball striking about the ear and coming out alongside of the nose. Barber was lying in bed, unable to be up, as all supposed, until last Sunday when he heard that he was to be tried for the murder of four soldiers in Texas. He then got up and left. When last seen Monday noon, he was riding a poor pony, coming from Harmon's ford, with a bandage about his head. Parties are in pursuit of him.

ANOTHER RAILROAD. A meeting will be held in Neosho Falls, Kansas, on May 2, 1877, in the interest of a narrow gauge railroad from Kansas City, by way of Paola, Garnett, Neosho Falls, Yates Center, Toronto, and Eureka, through Cowley and Sumner counties, in the direction of Santa Fe, New Mexico. By direction of G. A. Colton and others.

THE M. E. CHURCH OF THIS CITY, now in course of erection, is 56 feet long by thirty in breadth; height of wall 15 feet. It is now rapidly approaching completion, and is a fine specimen of architecture, and will be large enough to accommodate any audience ordinarily assembling in Southern Kansas.

LIEUTENANT O. T. WIETING, of the 23rd U. S. Infantry, from Fort Riley, Kansas, with fifteen men, camped south of town last night. The men are picked soldiers, and as gentlemanly fellows as any we have met on the border. They are to accompany the Commissioners in the Indian Territory.

There is a particular spot near Wyard Gooch's place that the lightning strikes almost every storm. During the last month it has set the prairie grass on fire twice. Just as like as not there is a silver mine there, or some other mineral.

SOME PARTIES are reporting that the object of appraising the Indian land south of us is to open it for settlement. The statement is entirely false and will prove a detriment to the county if it is not properly understood.

FROM JUDGE McINTIRE, OUR TRUSTEE, we learn that there are 1,052 inhabitants in Creswell Township. In 1875 there were but 720, showing an increase of 332. Number of families excluslive of old bacherlors and maids: 206.

THE COWLEY COUNTY BANK has just purchased one of the latest improved "time locks," at a cost of about $400. These locks are set by a clock, and cannot be opened until the time arrives that they are set to.

[STATE ROAD FROM ARKANSAS CITY TO INDEPENDENCE.]

The commissioners to locate the State road from Arkansas City to Independence met at the former place on Monday last and commenced the work. The length of the road to be established is about 80 miles, and to do the work properly will take some time. The commissioners cannot expect to please every individual or every locality, and hence they should not start in with that idea. A road over good ground, though it be a few miles longer, may be a shorter route in fact than it would be on a more direct line but worse ground. A road too, through a thickly settled community, would be preferable to one through a district sparsely settled, but the commissioners will consider all these things before making the final location. Chautauqua Journal.

[ACCIDENTAL DROWNING AT WINFIELD: MISS BELLE WREN.]

[BUSINESS NOTICES.]

[SAMPLE OF TOWNSHIP PROPOSITIONS: BOLTON TOWNSHIP.]

[MORE PERSONALS.]

A freight wagon, bound for Fort Sill, was labeled:

"C. B. & Q. R. R., 1877, B.C."

We have learned that the commissioners appointed to appraise land in the Territory have warned the whites from taking timber therefrom under penalty of the law, which makes it a penitentiary offense.

Arkansas City licenses no saloons. The drug stores supply the demand for "firewater" for the thirsty "Arkansawians," while the sturdy farmers wend their way to the city of Winfield for their little refreshments. Telegram.

Salt City, Sumner Co., April 16, 1877.

Robert Thompson was married to Miss Ora Belknap on Tuesday evening.

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Thos. Mills, on Sunday the 7th, a daughter: weight 9-1/2 pounds.

Salt City is favored with a saloon and drug store.

Crops are looking well and farmers are busy. B.

FIRE. On last Wednesday night, at about 12 o'clock, during the rain, flames were seen in the direction of Judge McIntire's house, and a rush was made for the scene by those who chanced to be up at the time. On arriving at the fire, it was found to be the one just vacated by the widow of Jas. Barr, and owned by David T. Thompson. Mrs. Barr had moved out of the building in the morning, and no fire had been left, and no one was seen about in the evening until it was in a blaze. No cause can be assigned for the fire, except that it was the work of an incendiary. It was burned so completely that not a shingle or scrap of board could be seen afterwards.

[OPPOSITION TO CHANGING THE BOND LAW.]

If ever the truth was spoken, it is expressed in the following item from the Cowley County Telegram, the editor of which opposed the change of the law, as did the TRAVELER, citing the disadvantages of a change at the time.

"There are a few men in this county who strongly favored the change of the bond law from a two-thirds vote to a majority vote, who now curse the day the law was changed. They see they ran their necks square into a noose, and now that it is being slowly but surely tightened, they have awakened to a sense of their danger, and wish themselves well out of the scrape. If it should lead to the building of a railroad around Winfield, the citizens of Winfield will then heap bitter curses upon them, and the devilish tricks by which the law was changed.

[COMMUNICATION FROM JAMES CHRISTIAN.]

"My friend, I have taxes enough to pay now. I sell all I can raise here at home. This county is emphatically a stock raising country; we don't need a railroad. I make more money in raising cattle and hogs than I can in raising wheat to sell. Enough to bread myself, and family is all I want, and my stock can walk to market. I am perhaps the largest tax payer in my township, but I find no difficulty in getting along without a railroad. The distance to market don't bother me, and I have as much to sell as any of my neighbors. My experience is that the man who has nothing to sell is the furthest from market. My neighbor across the creek is just the man for you to call upon. He has nothing to sell, neither grain nor stock, but he is crazy for a railroad."

I remember, when a boy in my native land, of seeing a tavern sign called "The Four 'Alls.'" It was the picture of four men, each rigged out in the toggery of his respective calling. One had a crown on his head, and under him the words, "The king rules all;" another had a gun on his shoulder, and under him the words, "The soldier fights for all;" the third had a big book in his hand, and under him the words, "The preacher prays for all;" while the fourth fellow was represented as wearing a long-tailed coat and bearing in his hands a bag of money, with under him the words, "The farmer pays for all." Yes, my farmer friends of Cowley county, in this land of civil and religious liberty; in this land of freedom, as well as in monarchical old England, you have the inestimable privilege of "paying for all."

If there is any railroad built through your county by the aid of railroad bonds, you will have it to pay for. Then exercise your prerogative, and say where it shall run to do the greatest good to the greatest number, and also what description of road you want. Don't let a few town lot speculators bulldoze you out of what your sense of right and justice demands. Demand that the road, if built, shall run where it will do the most good to the farmer, the produce raiser for and life sustainer of all.

JAMES CHRISTIAN.

[COMMUNICATION FROM "REM TENEMUS" TO EDITOR SCOTT.]

On the morning of April 16, in company with a fellow townsman, we found ourselves eastward bound, to see what was to be seen and learn what was to be learned. What we learned of the Flint ridges, etc., does not concern us now. What we learned while in Elk, pertaining to railroad matters, may interest your readers as much as anything else.

One of the first things we learned was that COWLEY COUNTY was a unit on the narrow gauge east and west. Prominent gentlemen from Winfield had represented to citizens of Elk county that Cowley would "go solid" for the M. P. & W. R. R. narrow gauge. This was new to the unenlightened, and hard to reconcile with what we knew to be a fact--that a very respectable proportion of the citizens of Cowley county regarded the east and west proposition as a wild project to defeat a more substantial proposition, which would now have been before the county, had it not been for the dictatorial attitude of the city of Winfield.

The only plausible and possible explanation that we could give was that these prominent gentlemen either supposed they were Cowley county, or that they carried Cowley county in their pockets, as heretofore asserted.

Another thing we learned was that ELK COUNTY was not united on railroad matters. We did not find a single man who preferred a narrow gauge to a standard gauge east and west. They said: "The standard gauge is what we want; but if we cannot get the standard, we want the narrow gauge, rather than no road at all."

We learned also that a proposition was likely to be submitted soon to build a STANDARD GAUGE from Independence westward to Cowley County. Independence gentlemen expressed themselves as favorable to extending the line of the L. L. & G. railroad westward to save to the city of Independence and to that road the amount of trade already tributary to it, as well as to tap the trade in Cowley and Sumner counties, now tributary to the A. T. & S. F. railroad.

In short, Mr. Editor, from what we could learn, we are candidly of the opinion that the standard gauge from Independence is the only east and west road that will be built for many years to come.

Is it then the part of wisdom for Cowley county to commit itself for eighteen months or more to a project that never had any existence than in the brain of a few scheming, selfish men?

[EDITORIAL COLUMN: ATTACK ON E. C. MANNING.]

We shall take pleasure in having that paper laid away for reference. Place it with the one of 1873, where we opposed the issue of the $200,000 bonds to the Kansas & Nebraska Company, when the editor of the Courier endeavored to have the Commissioners issue them after it was known they had defrauded Marion county and did not expect to build any portion of the road from the beginning to the terminus.

[COMMUNICATION FROM "VOTER" - TISDALE.]

Is it right for the producers of this county to support a proposition so evidently one sided; or in other words, to assume a large debt with only a prospective benefit, for the purpose of forwarding the interests of the town of Winfield? You will find that the men who are prominent in urging this road are the same who by combination in fixing the lowest tariff or prices, have in time past bought your wheat, wood, and other products at rates that insured your continued poverty. They hold mortgages on three-fourths of your farms, to secure money loaned at the most usurious interest, and they now ask you to assume an additional debt, for purposes for which they chiefly will be gainers.

It is very doubtful, in principle, whether any railroad should be built except by the unassisted efforts of its own corporators. With us at this juncture, with the possible ravages of the grasshoppers, the assumption of such a burden is of questionable expediency. It cannot be that the teminus of this road at Winfield, is for the interest of the county at large.

Its extension to Arkansas City would furnish us with an additional market for our products, while it would enable us to make purchases of goods at from five to ten percent less than sold for at Winfield.

As for the additional claim, urged by those who are representatives of that place, vix.: that the wealth, intelligence, and moral character of the county are centered there, and that the counties should support these virtues--this all may be so. Of the versatility of its citizens, there is little doubt. When you find professional men engaged in trade, public educators as peddlers, and even divines ready, not only to heal the bruised spirit, but to loan money at 30 percent, it must, indeed, be a carping mind that would deny their liberality.

Finally, previous to casting his vote, let each voter ask himself, "Which can I do the easier--pay this additional tax, or haul my produce to Wichita at a time of year when I have nothing else to do?"

Do not delude yourselves with the idea that what you consume will cost less. Freight now is carried cheaper by team than any railroad can transport it. Increased taxation in the United States has always meant a cessation of immigration and a decline in the value of real estate.

VOTER.

[SOUTH KANSAS & WESTERN RAILROAD.]

On motion of C. M. Scott, it was moved that the officers of the local company should consist of a President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary.

H. B. KELLEY, Secretary.

[PERSONALS.]

CORN 40 cents per bushel.

STREETS lined with teams.

NEWCOMERS in town every day now.

PAWNEES in town with robes to trade.

New stage drive in Tommy Young's place.

Walker's bay "Spray" team travels lively.

The railroad bonds have carried in Butler county.

Greenwood county is to have the K. C. R. & S. F. R.

Cayote wolves are becoming numerous north of town.

JOHN EVANS is going to apply for a city license to sell beer.

WHEAT $1.50 per bushel in Arkansas City and $1.70 in Wichita.

MR. RANDALL is erecting a new house north of this present location.

School began in Theaker's school house Monday. Mrs. Houser is teaching.

A. THOMPSON sold his south 80 acres to Gardner Mott for a team worth $300.

BARBER CAUGHT. Before leaving this place last Tuesday week, Sheriff Walker deputized A. W. Patterson, and offered him a bonus of fifteen dollars if he would capture John Barber, who had escaped from the authorities at Dexter two days before. Mr. Patterson secured the assistance of Constable Gray, and the two started in pursuit. Before going far, they learned he had gone up the Walnut, and immediately followed. After hunting the most of the night, they abandoned the pursuit until next morning.

In the morning Patterson and George Walker found the trail of the criminal and followed it until they came to the house of Robert White, where it stopped. Alighting from the buggy both went into the house and found the man lying in bed asleep, with a Colt's improved revolver and Bowie knife hanging in their sheaths on the bed post near his head. These were taken possession of by the officers, and a gun and pistol aimed at his head while they took hold of his leg to awaken him. As soon as he opened his eyes, Patterson said to him, "You are my prisoner." He realized his situation at once, and cooly remarked, "Where are you going to take me?" He was told that he would have to go to Winfield, and he readily assented to it, as his wound needed careful treatment. He told the officers he did not want to go back to Elk county for fear his father and brother would mob him.

In conversation afterwards he told the officers if he had not been wounded, they could not have taken him. In reply to a question of killing the soldiers in Texas, he stated he had heard of it and that it was a man by the same name as his own, but not him. He is now in jail at Winfield, awaiting trial. From all accounts, his father and brother are not as worthy people as they might be, as the father of the culprit, it is said, sent his son to shoot the half brother, saying he had $6,000 to clear him with.

BRAKE DOWN AND UPSET. On last Friday morning Judge Christian and the editor of this paper started for Tisdale and Howard county in a light spring buggy. After traveling some fifteen miles, the spring of the buggy was broken by a sudden jar, and they were compelled to return for repairs. While returning on the east bank of the Walnut, the wheel slipped somewhat, throwing the weight on the broken spring, which was in front, causing the buggy to instantly capsize. Mr. Christian was thrown considerable distance, striking the ground on the back of his head and shoulders, but soon recovered himself. The editor went with the buggy and alighted very easy. The horses did not make much of an effort to run, and in a few minutes the buggy was arighted, and they came into town balancing the vehicle by both sitting on the same side. This made the second fall Scott has received on the east bank of the Walnut within the last year, and the second upset Judge Christian has experienced within the past few months.