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CHAPTER XXXIII.

LEGISLATION AND OTHER EVENTS OF 1893.

365. Inauguration of the Executive. - Governor Lewelling was inaugurated on the 9th of January, 1893.

366. Organization of the Senate.-On the 10th the Legislature assembled, which was destined to a stormy, and, at times, anxious existence.

The Senate was organized under the presidency of the Lieutenant-Governor, Honorable Percy Daniels, at twelve o'clock, noon, the hour fixed by law.

367. House Failed to Organize.—The members of the House of Representatives assembled in their hall, when Honorable R. S. Osborn, Secretary of State, appeared, and stated that he did not wish to deliver the roll of members certified as elected by the State Board of Canvassers, in the absence of a presiding officer. A motion that the Secretary of State preside temporarily was objected to, and he departed, taking the roll with him. Both parties then proceeded to organize the House, the Republicans electing Honorable Geo. L. Douglas, Speaker, and the Populists, Honorable J. M. Dunsmore. Both Speakers occupied the same desk, and during the first night slept under the same blanket on the floor in the rear of the Speaker's desk, each one with a gavel in his hand.

368. Dunsmore House Recognized.-On the third day of the session, Governor Lewelling recognized the

Dunsmore House as the legal body, and on the fourth day the Senate took the same action, the Republican Senators formally protesting. The two contending bodies continued to sit on different sides of Representative Hall for some days. In time an arrangement was made by which one body met in the forenoon and the other in the afternoon. Numerous attempts were made by various parties, one, among others, by the chairmen of the central committees of the three parties, Republican, Populist, and Democratic, to effect a settlement, but in vain.

369. Governor's Message.-On the 17th of January Governor Lewelling sent in his message to the Senate, where it was read, and to the Dunsmore House, which ordered it printed.

370. Arrest of L. C. Gunn.- The arrest of L. C. Gunn by a sergeant-at-arms of the Douglas House, on a warrant signed by the Speaker and Clerk of that House, on a charge of neglecting to obey a mandate of that body, brought an issue before the Supreme Court. Mr. Gunn asked to be discharged, on the ground that the Douglas House was not the lawful and constitutional House of Representatives, and had no authority to order his arrest.

371. Contest for the Hall.-While this case was pending, stirring events were destined to occur. On the 14th of February an attempt was made by two deputy sergeantsat-arms of the Douglas House to arrest Ben C. Rich, Chief Clerk of the Dunsmore House, on a charge of "contempt." After a sharp scuffle, Mr. Rich was rescued by his friends, and soon after appeared in triumph in the Dunsmore House. Governor Lewelling directed the Adjutant-General to call out a company of militia if necessary. On the night of the

14th, the officers of the Dunsmore House barricaded the door of the Hall of Representatives. On the morning of the 15th, the Douglas House, headed by their Speaker, appeared, thrust aside the outer guards, smashed in the door with a sledge hammer, and entered and took possession. 372. The Douglas House Besieged.-Governor Lewelling called out several companies of State militia, guns were brought out of the State arsenal; a Gatling gun and artillerists were ordered from Wichita. On the other side, Sheriff Wilkinson, of Shawnee county, who had declined a summons from both Speaker Dunsmore and the Governor, announced himself as the regular custodian of the peace of the county, marched a force of deputies into the State House, and joined the large force of sergeants-at-arms of the Douglas House. The Douglas House was, in a sense, beleaguered, but was supplied with provisions passed through the lines.

373. Colonel Hughes Refuses to Obey.-Colonel J. W. F. Hughes, who had been ordered by the Governor to take charge of the troops and clear out of the State House all unauthorized persons, appeared in the midst of the besieged Douglas House and said he should do nothing of the sort, and was afterwards courtmartialed.

374. Close of the Contest.-The siege was not destined to last long. On the 16th Governor Lewelling appeared, and requested that the force occupying the Hall of Representatives turn it over to him for the night. This was refused. A committee of citizens of Topeka besought the Douglas House to yield, and avoid a bloody contest with the militia. This proposition was received with indifference. Negotiations finally resulted in an agreement, on the 17th,

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that the Douglas House should continue to hold the hall; that the Dunsmore House should meet elsewhere; that the deputies and the militia should retire, and that the proceedings against Chief Clerk Rich should be abandoned. This ended what has been called the "Legislative War" of 1893, in which, happily, no lives were lost, but which it is earnestly hoped will never be repeated.

375. Decision of the Supreme Court.-On the 25th was rendered the decision of the Supreme Court in the Gunn case, Chief Justice Horton affirming the constitutionality of the Douglas House, in which view Associate Justice Johnston concurred, and from which Associate Justice Allen dissented.

376. House Organized.-On the 28th of February, the late Dunsmore House appeared, headed by their sergeantat-arms, carrying the American flag, and spread upon the record their formal protest. The two Houses then became the one House of Representatives of the State of Kansas.

An eye-witness remarks of the appearance of Topeka during the "Legislative War": "No other capital city on earth. could have passed through such a scene of conflict without serious loss of life, and, it is also likely, great destruction of property. The absence of the saloon is the chief explanation."

377. John Martin Elected U. S. Senator.-On January 25th, in the midst of the disturbances, the Senate and House met in joint session, presided over by LieutenantGovernor Daniels, and John Martin received eighty-six votes, and was declared elected United States Senator. The Republican members held a joint session, and gave Joseph W. Ady seventy-seven votes. E. H. Snow was re-elected State Printer.

378. Report of State Agent.-In the earliest days of Kansas there was a disposition, on the part of Legislative bodies and all concerned, to grant to railroad companies all that might be asked in the way of public lands in aid of construction. In time, there came a disposition to correct this generosity, and recover for the State a portion of its lavished bounty. Ex-Governor Samuel J. Crawford, for some years State Agent at Washington, in his report made in 1892, showed that there had been secured for the State, of school lands, 276,376 acres, and of railroad lands, 833,900 acres.

379. Erection of K. U. Library Building.—In 1893 the Regents of the Kansas State University decided to devote the bequest of $90,000, given to the University by Mr. William B. Spooner, of Boston, to the erection of the fine fireproof library building of the University, and which bears Mr. Spooner's name. Kansas institutions, in later years, have been generously remembered by Eastern men of wealth, who befriended Kansas in her early days of struggle.

380. Memorial to William B. Spooner.-On the occasion of the dedication of the Spooner Library, in 1894, Hon. D. W. Wilder wrote: "It is now too late to accept your kind invitation. I should be the only guest, probably, who had seen Mr. Spooner, and seen him a great many times. I was a schoolboy, the son of an anti-slavery father. I did not neglect my books, but I attended many meetings of the anti-slavery folks, a very small band. Not one person in ten thousand in Boston, in those days, forty-six years ago, was an avowed Abolitionist. Some of the meetings, in the days of mobs and violence, had a few

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