A RIOT IN PROGRESS IN A KANSAS
TOWN
Topeka, Kas., April 20 - The sheriff of Stafford
County, Kansas, wired Governor Morrill at 11:30 o'clock tonight that a riot was in progress at St. John and asking
him to send troops. Adjutant General Fox was instructed to proceed there at once, taking the company of Kansas
regulars at Newton and they left on a special train. The telegraph lines have been cut and no detail of the trouble
can be obtained. (Charlotte Observer, April 22, 1896, page 2)
NO LYNCHING AT STAFFORD
Stafford, Kas., Nov. 7 - A raid on a Nonpartisan
League meeting here last night, when O. E. Wood, an organizer from Lincoln, Neb., was making an address in behalf
of the organization, gave rise to a rumor that a lynching had occurred.
An organized crowd of about fifty men, entered
the opera house where the meeting was in progress from the front and rear, evidently intent upon taking Wood from
the speaker's platform, but the audience seeing what was up rushed in to prevent rough tactics and Wood was saved
from the hands of the raiders.
Seized the Wrong Man
Jay McFadden, a widely known farmer near here,
who was chosen to introduce the speaker, was on the platform at the time and attempted to stop the crowd from entering
at the rear.
Mcfadden, in the dark behind the scenes, was mistaken
for Wood. Several of the men pulled a sack over his head. He was then hurried to a motor car and driven several
miles into the country. The sack was removed from his head and the kidnappers discovered they had the wrong man.
He was then brought back to town. He refused to talk concerning the incident this morning but it was learned from
members of the family that he was convinced that an attempt at violence was intended had the raiders captured Wood.
Wood Finished His Talk
Wood completed his talk after quiet was restored
in the opera house and was in the city yet this morning.
Residents here say the crowd was composed mostly
of strangers from nearby towns. They made no attempt to disguise themselves.
McFadden is first vice president of the First State
Bank of Stafford and an officer of the Farmer's Alliance at McPherson, Kas.
One report of the meeting says Wood held up to ridicule the circulars which had been distributed in Stafford announcing
for tonight a meeting to be addressed by P. E. Zimmerman of Lindsborg, Kas., a speaker for the Anti-Bolshevik League
of Kansas. There also was personal ridicule of Zimmerman, it was reported. That it was said angered the crowd and
brought on the trouble.
But Wood's speech, according to E. A. Briles, owner
of the Stafford Courier, who was present, was conservative and not offensive from a patriotic stand point. There
had been no attack on the ring, Briles said.
Wood had been speaking an hour and a half when
a crowd of men burst into the opera house, simultaneously from the front and rear entrances. Those from the rear
swarmed over to the stage, making for Wood and McFadden.
Members of the crowd near the stage arose and took
the side of the speaker, Briles said. In the commotion that followed, as far as could be learned today no one was
injured severely enough to require the attention of a physician.
In the excitement wood was over looked. McFadden
was seized and placed in a motor car and taken north out of town. Many believe the crowd took McFadden by mistake
and that the purpose of the mob merely was to break up the meeting.
The house was comfortably filled, many having gone
through curiosity.
R. W. Welch, Stafford County sheriff, reported
to Governor Allen at Topeka that everything was quiet in Stafford today. The sheriff said no one was injured in
the demonstration in the opera house. He added he did not believe any action was necessary.
Lincoln, Neb., Nov. 7 - The Nonpartisan League
speaker prevented from delivering an address at Stafford, Kas., last night probably in O. E. Wood of Bethany, a
suburb of Lincoln, according to C. A. Sorenson, attorney for the league.
Wood has been active some time in the interest
of the league and Nebraska Farmers' Union. He is a member of the state board of the latter organization and has
been in Kansas for several weeks speaking before farmer's meetings.
Topeka, Nov. 7 - Sentiment against the Nonpartisan
League in Stafford County and the counties surrounding it is particularly strong. It comes from the association
of the Nonpartisan League with the W. W. and kindred organizations which caused the farmers in that part of the
state considerable trouble during the harvest season last summer.
Several wheat fields were fired in Stafford county
in harvest time and while the origin of the fires was not traceable to incendiary causes the I. W. W. was under
suspicion. A few I. W. W. organizers went into the wheat fields in the harvest for the purpose of scattering propaganda
and raising disturbances among the harvest hands. They were arrested and run out of the territory by the farmers.
Members of the Nonpartisan league it was asserted were defenders of the agitators of all sorts who went into that
section. Reports of a working agreement between the Nonpartisan League and the I. W. W. in North Dakota where the
Nonpartisan League controls the state, taken in connection with the friendly attitude of the members of the league
toward the I. W. W. only aggravated the situation and caused the farmers and citizens of the Stafford neighborhood
to link the two organizations together as one.
Practically all the trouble in the Kansas harvest
fields last summer caused by the I. W. W. occurred throughout Stafford and adjoining counties and it was this situation
that brought about the conflict over the Nonpartisan meeting in Stafford last night, it is believed here. (Kansas
City Star, November 7, 1919, page 1)
Milt
Thomas shot and killed Ben Webber at St. John, Kan. Webber was charged with complicity in a robbery of the county
treasurer's office, which occurred some months ago. Thomas was the principal witness against him. The shooting,
the culmination of this quarrel, was in self-defense. (Kalamazoo Gazette ~ December 29, 1892)
A KANSAS RANCHER KILLS
HIMSELF
St. John, Kas., Feb. 20---Otto Ihl, a ranchman,
committed suicide at his ranch, nine miles north of St. John, Monday evening by blowing one side of his head off
with a shotgun. He was formally a banker in St. John,having come out here from Chicago where he had been for years
connected with a large toy and notion concern. Despondency was the probable cause. (Kansas City Star ~ February
20, 1895)
PLANE FALLS, KILLING
ONE
Machine Wrecked at Stafford, Kansas was Purchased
Here
Stafford, Kas., July 16 - An airplane fell six
miles east of Stafford this afternoon when the pilot, Lewis Lowe, lost control, killing his brother, Herbert Lowe,
a passenger in the plane. The pilot was dangerously injured. The machine which is owned by the Aero Club of Stafford,
was brought to this city yesterday from Kansas city, where it had been purchased. It was wrecked. Lewis Lowe was
a lieutenant in the aviation corps of the United States Army.
The plane was purchased here Tuesday and taken
on its own power to Stafford. (Kansas City Star, July 17, 1919, page 1)
