Lincoln City (part 1 of 19)

State Journal Company. Printers

The authors of this work have undertaken the task of recording the history of Lincoln at this time, because they felt that it was a work that should be performed while it was still possible to get the facts from those who are personally cognizant of them. Even at this time, only twenty -two years away from the founding of the city, much difficulty has been experienced in getting the absolute facts of the early days ; and while great care has been taken to secure strict accuracy in all the features of this work, the authors cannot hope to have been entirely successful in their endeavor. But the volume is given to the public with the request that such credit be given to it as is due to work conscientiously and honestly performed. History is made rapidly in this representative city of a wonderfully developing State, and the authors of this work expect to continue in the future the work they have begun in the following pages. They therefore request all who read this volume to notify them of any inaccuracies that may be discovered in its pages, and to communicate to them any facts omitted herein and which would be of interest and value to the people of Lincoln and of the State as a part of the city's history. The authors desire to express their thanks to those persons who have generously assisted in the preparation of these pages, among whom may be mentioned Hon. C. H. Gere, Hon. John Gillespie, Col. Simon Benadom, Hon, Thomas Hyde, Hon. John S. Gregory, Major Bohanan, and others.

Contents Page

Formation of the Old Settlers' Association - Its list of members, 346 Lincoln's Remarkable growth - Sketches of Some of her Prominent Citizens 357

History Of The City Of Lincoln Chapter

The Lincolx of To-day - Why the City has Geowx so Rapidly, and why Expectations of Future Gkowth ake Reasonable - The Couxtry Tributary to Lincoln - What Lincoln Realli" is and has.

A city is buildecl upon a great water way, where the commerce of half a hundred states may float to its wharves ; near the waters of a rapid stream that frets its banks with the impatient power which might turn the busy wheels of a hundred mills; where the generous earth needs but to be asked, to give up for man's uses unlimited stores of baser metals and tlie fuel with which they may be converted into things of utility and beauty ; at the foot of mountains filled with gold and silver that attract thousands of fortune seekers, wild with dreams of sudden wealth, and yield to Fortune's favored few the incomes of princes and kings.

Another city is builded where no vessels float, no water power roars and foams, no coal nor iron nor gold nor silver rewards the delver in the earth ; where nature oifers no bonus to the favored few, nor cheats the many with the baseless fabric of dreams never to be fulfilled, but with even-handed justice holds out to all the promise of an adequate return for labor faithfully performed.

Capital flows to the first city to take the bonus held out by nature's hand, and builds with the accumulations of other times and other fields, in the hope of an ultimate return. Men to whose imaginations the extraordinary advantages of the place appeal, flock to it in the hope that there they may obtain the reward of labor without the unpleasant necessity of its exercise. It is built from without. Its future is mortgaged to the capitalist - it has borrowed his money instead of making it. Its continuing present is menaced by its poorer citizens, who have come to find wealth, not to produce it. But its 2 (9)

The secontl I'itv attracts little ca})ital from the outside; it has no extraordinarv inducements to appeal to capital. The eyes of the country are not turned ui)on it ; it has nothing within it to excite the imau-ination of the emigrant or fortune hunter. The capital within it is that only which it has itself produced. The residents are only those who have come because of the employment which they have been enabled to find in the ordinary avenues of life.

If these two cities grow side by side, and the second shows the same percentage of growth as the first, which is the more remarkable? the one which has displayed lavish natural advantages to attract capital and excite the imagination of the world, or the one which could only hold out as an incentive the hope of moderate returns for energy and industry?

If these two cities grow at an even pace, which has the more substantial prosperity and the more solid basis for future growth? the one which has been built up from the outside, which has attracted population by vague and extraordinary promises ; or the one which has grown out of its own resources, and whose people have come to it because they saw Avork awaiting them which they were willing to do?

An extraordinary effect ceases to be extraordinary when it is found to follow an extraordinary cause. An extraordinary effect for which no extraordinary cause can be discovered, becomes a phenomenon.

The groM'th of Lincoln has been more remarkable than that of any other city in the AVest. It has no fuel, no mines, no water power, no remarkable natural advantages : and yet, on the spot where twentyone years ago the emigrant, in his lonely covered wagon, scared the timid antelope from its grassy couch, and scanned the horizon with anxious eye to see if he might discover the form of some Indian brave cutting its even line, fifty thousand busy people throng the streets of a great city; a city which reaches 200,000 square miles of territory, and 2,0(l(),0(K) people, by ten radiating lines of railroad which do a business of nearly a million tons per year, and give employment to 1,350 men; a city which is traversed by thirty-five miles of street railway, and has seven miles of paving, with as much more provided for; twenty miles of sewerage, twenty miles of water mains; a hundred jobbing houses and as many factories; four great State institu- tions, besides the Capitol ; three universities; a million dollars invested in church property; and hundreds of the finest residences in the State.

The growth of Lincoln has not excited widespread interest over the country because there has been nothing sensational connected with it; and yet there is no visitor to the city who does not express the amazement which he feels when he learns its size and importance. Indeed, half the residents of Lincoln are themselves amazed when they drive about the city and see the growth and improvements which have been going on while they slept. The reason of this is that the growth has been due not to extraordinary causes, but to the steadv though rapid development of the country of which Lincoln has become the most convenient point to supply. An agricultural region is the richest in the world ; but its development is steady and commonplace. Lincoln is the railroad center of as magnificent an agricultural empire as exists in the world ; and the whole secret of her great and rapid growth lies in this fact. This growth has been so quiet as hardly to excite comment; but it is as substantial, and certain of continuance, as is that natural and irresistable development in which its roots are driven deep.

The explanation of the growth to greatness, of a city which could boast of no water power, mines, fuel, nor other so-called "natural advantages," lies in the fact that it is commerce, and not manutiictures, that builds great cities. Natural advantages may aiford the foundation for a limited number of factories ; cheap coal may give birth to a few industries in the operation of which fuel is the most expensive item; abundant raw material may attract a few of the factories which use the material; and these factories may support a hundred or a thousand families : if they support five thousand families the limit of population may be little beyond this number. Some of the largest manufacturing institutions in the United States are in small towns. They present no attractions to anybody except to a man who wants to buy a bill of goods and get away, or to the sight seer whose curiosity is of a limited and special character. But commerce knows no natural limitations. Given the means of reaching a great and populous territory, and a commercial city lays under tribute the factories of the world, and turns to its own profit the special advantages that have given rise to a thousand manufacturing towns. It becomes the center to which tradesmen of every kind collect to purchase their wares ; to

Nvliic'li the members of" all prot'essions gather to procure those things which they use in the practice of their vocations ; to which the sight seer and the politician gravitate to see the most of things or persons in the shortest time. In the commercial center supply and demand meet in everv avenue of life, - mercantile, professional, physical, intellectual, a'sthetic, moral. The diversity of interests in such a city becomes its greatest power of attraction : every source of supply seeks there a demand ; every demand seeks there a source of sujijjly. There are no waterways west of the jNIississippi river which are of service to commerce, and it is at the great railway center, wherever that mav by man be placed, that she sets her throne.

It is bv virtue of being such a railway center that Lincoln has grown so marvelously; grown in spite of the lack of "natural atlvantases;" grown in the face of the repeated predictions of her own citizens that no further growth could be looked for. And that growth will continue until the development of the country which her railroads make tributary to her shall cease. The railroad system of most imj)ortance to Lincoln is the Burlington Sz Missouri River Railroad, which has nearly 2,500 miles of track in the State, and almost as mucii as all the other roads. There is no city in the country so preeminently tiie center of any railroad as Lincoln is of the B. cV: M. The road has six lines radiating from Lincoln to every part of the State. It handles all its transferring and reshipping here, as it has no yardage at any other place in the State. Here it has forty-two miles of side track, on Mhich 800 men handle from 1,000 to 2,000 cars a day. Over these radiating roads there run out from Ijincoln every week-day thirteen passenger trains and from fifty to seventy-five freight trains. The system girds the entire southern half of the State, and reaches out into northwestern Nebraska by three parallel lines which will occupy three-fourths of the northern half of the State and extend into the mining regions of Wyoming and Idaho, and the cattle ranches of Hakota and Montana. Every j)ound of merchandise that jiasses into all this vast territory from eastern points of supply, anil every pound (jf grain, and every hog and steer that goes out of the State over the ]i. tS: j\L system, passes through Lincoln.

Besides this system, the Elkhorn operates over 900 miles of road in the State, giving Lincoln connection with all the northwestern part of the State to the line: the I'nion Pacific oj)erates over 875 miles of track, giving Liucolii oonueotiou Avitli the Pacific coast and with the southern systems in Kansas; the Missouri Pacific has 400 miles of track in the State, and gives Lincoln a short line to Kansas Citv, St. Louis, and the Atlantic seaboard, and places the city in direct communication Avith the southern markets.

In an elaborate review of Lincoln's railroad situation, published March 12, 1888, in a special edition of the State. Democrat, prepared by one of the authors of this history, it was shown that the population reached directly by Lincoln's railroads was 989,591. This was an accurate estimate, made up from the censuses and votes of the counties reached by the roads in Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado, and did not include any of that vast territory in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, which is reached by lines connecting with Lincoln's roads, and in which Lincoln jobbers are doing a large and rapidlyincreasing business.

There is a philosophy of history ; and this brief discussion of the territory tributary to Lincoln, and the city's facilities for reaching it, has been given in recognition of the fact that it is a part of the historian's duty to explain the causes of events, as well as to chronicle events themselves. The value of such historical study is in enabling the student to make the past foreshadow the future; and the following summary of the possibilities of Lincoln's growth, taken from the article referred to above, is deduced from the study made therein :

"But it may be asked what grounds there are on w^hich to expect that the country tributary to Lincoln will increase so steadily and rapidly in popttlation as to build up a great commercial center here. The reply is that nearly all this territory is the very best kind of agricultural land, and that such land is too valuable to be idle. This, we take pains to say again, is not mere assertion. The settlement of the western counties of Nebraska has been and is marvelous. A few examples are given below, with authentic figures showing the population in 1880, in 1885, and in 1887, together with the population that the same territory would have at thirty-five per square mile:

Col'Xtiks

"These figures are accurate, although one who is unacquainted with the development of the great AVest might well imagine that they were the creation of some statistical romancer. Here is a region, nearly all of which was so sparsely settled as to be unorganized in 1880, now supporting a population of 87,591 ; an empire which would easily su])port 800,000 people. The estimate of thirty-five \)er square mile is not an extravagant one. Kentucky has forty people per square mile; Indiana and Illinois have each fifty-four; Ohio has seventyseven; New York has 103; Connecticut has 124; and Rhode Island has 243. If Cheyenne county had as many people per square mile as Rhode Island, her population would be 1,918,620.

"Is it anv Avonder that Nebraska villages have ti^rown into cities in a few years? Is there any reason to doubt that this growth is but the substantial and inevitable result of the development of the State? Is there any reason to doubt that Lincoln will become a great city Avhen the 1,000,000 people now directly tributary may be swelled to 5,000,000 without making the population more dense than that now sujiportcd by Indiana and Illinois?"

Early Nebraska Chapter Ii

Eaely Nebraska - Its Discoveky in 1540 - The Eaely Legends of the Land of Quiveea - Cokonado's Visit - The Explorations of Pena- LOSA - The Points Reached by These First Visitors to Nebraska.

Nebraska as a State is comparatively new. As a country its history dates back centuries, covered partly by the records of the priests, the old-time chroniclers, and partly by the legends which have come down to us through generations from the ()ld Spanish settlers in Mexico, and the Indians who inhabited the land. The early history of Nebraska is a part of the history of all this western country, extending from the Missouri river to the Rocky mountains, and from the Platte river to the Rio Grande, and westward into Mexico, Around and over all this region is thrown the glamour and halo of the early days of chivalry in America, and the tales the legends tell are vague and weird enough to form the climax of any tale of chivalry, romance, or discovery. Away back three centuries and a half ago begins the legendary history of Nebraska. At that time the Land of the Sun, Mexico, had been taken possession of by the Spaniards, and from the City of Mexico exploring parties were wont to take their trips of discovery and exploration, led hither and thither by the frequent stories of wealth and splendor told the people by Indians who had strayed into that southern capital, or had been captured by the Spaniards in some of their frequent raids into the adjacent territories. Legend has it that years before the first recorded date, troops of Spanish cavaliers, traveling northward, entered a vast territory of grassy plains, crossed by broad rivers, which was said to be the home of a wonderfully wealthy people, whose cities, rich beyond compare, numbered seven. Later research has shown that some of these expeditions undoubtedly crossed what is now the northern boundary line of Kansas, and camped and traveled within the territory now known as Nebraska.

ico had heard fairy tales of a hind far to the northward, ealk-d Quivera - a hind of unlimited wealth, of populous eities with lofty dwellings and stores fairly glittering with gold and silver and precious gems, whose people lived in a style of grandeur unknown in this country, and who were highly civilized, and ac(juainted with tiie arts. In the vear 1536 four men, half starved and worn witli toil, heat, cold, shipwrecks, and battles with the natives, reached the City of ^Mexico from the mountains and plains of the north. These four men were all that were left of a band of four hundred Spaniards that eight years before had landed on the coast of Florida, for the purpose of exploring that unknown country. That company of troops had traveled to the northwestward many weary years, bnt hunger, toil, and conflicts with the hostile tribes of Indians they met, had reduced the ranks to the four, M'hose coming into the City of Mexico, and the marvelous tales they told, excited the curiosity of the people. This band of four hundred had evidently traversed the country from the southeast as far north as Kansas, and west through Colorado. The stories of these four men t'OuHrmed the legends that had been handed down among the Mexicans lor many generations, and if they had been doubted before, none now dared to dispute the existence to the northward of a country such as had been pictured to them.

From this time forward we have not to depend upon legends only, for the events following this date were recorded, possibly inaccurately, by the priests, who were the historians of the time. Immediately following the arrival of these toil-worn explorers at the City of Mexico, an expedition was fitted out under the leadership of Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan monk, and sent to discover and report upon these mysterious cities and pave the way for Spanish colonization. Friar Marcos, the commander, soon became discouraged and disheartened by the cruelty practiced upon his band of soldiers by the natives, who slew many of them, and turned back, but not wanting his comrades at home to think him the coward that he was, he instructed his soldiers, who were I'cady for any scheme that would end their marching, to say that they had really seen the seven cities of Cibola from afar, and tiiat they were more populous and far more wealthy than had ever been told. These tales again excited Spanish curiosity and cupidity and at once a larger and more powerful expedition was fitted out under the command of the Viceroy of Mexico, Francisco Vasquez de

Jndge Savage, of Omaha, has sj)ent much time and labor in collecting the scattered information to be had upon this early discovery, and from his account many of the facts and incidents of this expedition, and also his conclusions as to the points visited by Coronado and other explorers, are used. According to the authorities upon this subject, Coronado's expedition, composed of three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred natives, set out from the City of Mexico early in the spring of 1540, with bright anticipations and sanguine hopes. These were somewhat dampened by the hardships of the way, for the country traversed was rough, mountainous, and a desert ; and now and then, notwithstanding the marvels of the seven cities which they expected to find at the end of their journey, distrust and homesickness overmastered their curiosity, and they longed to return home. It was only the stern resolution of their commander which prevented the expedition being a failure almost at the very start. But at last, after a tedious and toilsome march, what were thought to be the seven cities of Cibola were reached, and here the disappointment was so great that a mutiny was almost successful. And the soldiers were really not to blame, for the highly-colored tales had all proved false. The seven cities were seven hamlets ; the houses were small ; gold was not found; the minerals were of little value; and farms there were in Mexico far better and richer than all of Cibola.

But the fitting out of the expedition had cost too much money to thus come to an ignoble end, and Coronado began to inquire if there were not other cities, richer and more populous, which it would be profitable to visit. The natives, eager to get rid of their Spanish visitors, answered in the affirmative. Two hundred and fifty miles to the eastward, they said, was a rich, peaceful, and populous province, where their desire for wealth and ambition for power might be gratified. Following the directions given, Coronado led his little army to this new locality, a point which is identified to-day by its natural characteristics and by its ruins, as being the country which is now the eastern part of the Territory of New JNlexico, and not far south of the present site of Santa Fe. Here the natives gave the Spaniards a cordial and sincere welcome, they being of a gentle and kindly nature, in return for which the Spaniards treated them with the utmost cru- eltv. Having been instriu'ted by the Spanish viceroy to let these })eoi>lo (meaning the inhabitants of the cities of Cibola) know that there was "a God in Heaven," Coronado proceeded to instruct the natives, first l)v stealing everything they had, then l)y im])risoning the chiefs of the leading tribes, and lastly, by burning their villages. Not satisfied with these outrages, Coronado's soldiers made inroads upon the families of their entertainers, debauching their Avives and children. Xotwitiistanding these acts of "Christian charity," the natives still treated the Spanish troopers with what kindness they could, but naturally schemed for some Avay by which they could rid themselves of their unwelcome and unbidden guests, in which they were finally successful.

One of these natives, willing to sacrifice his life for the salvation ot the rest, and Avith a self-sacrificing spirit wonderful for a savage, took upon himself the task of carrying the scheme agreed u])on into operation. Early one morning he suddenly appeared before Coronado, with nnich mystery in his movements, and great pretended hostility to the natives. He described a far-off country with such eloquence of language that the country |)ictured surpassed all previous imaginings of the Spaniards. The man came, he said, from a land far to the northeast, where there Avas a river seven miles in Avidth. "Within its depths Avere huge fishes as large as horses, and upon its broad bosom floated canoes Avhich carried tAventy oarsmen on a side; luige vessels Avith sails Avhich bore upon their proAv a golden eagle, and upon the poop a sumptuous dias, Avhereon their lords Avere Avont to sit beneath a canopy of cloth of gold. That e\'ery day the monarch of this faA^ored region, named Tartarrax, long bearded, gray haired, and rich, took his noontide sleep in a garden of roses under a huge spreading tree, to tiie branches of a'\ hich were suspended innumerable golden bells, Avhich sounded in ex»juisite harmony Avhen shaken l)y the Avind; that tiiis king prayed by means of a string of beads, and Avorshiped a cross of gold and the image of a woman, the queen of Heaven ; that throughout the land the commonest utensils Avere of Avrought sih'er, and the boAvls, i>lates, and porriugeris, of beaten gold. This land of plenty, he said, Avas

The Kingdom Of Quiver A.

The tale was well concocted, and told with consummate skill. The king being pictured as a man who worshiped after the fashion of the men to whom the tale was told, naturally made them more ready to believe, and the stories of such magnificent wealth, pictured with every appearance of honesty, made them eager to conquer the land. Coronado, while a brave, intrepid, and ambitious man, was superstitious, and had a Avonderful belief in signs and omens. In his youthful days he had made the acquaintance of an Arabian sage, who, after long study and travel in the East, where he had collected the knowledge and skill in necromancy supposed to be native there, had taken up his residence in the city of Salamanca, Coronado's birthplace. To this sage Coronado intrusted the duty of looking into the future and telling him what was in store for him in the years to come. After consulting his sacred parchments and communing with the supernatural beings who had imparted to him their wisdom, the necromancer received Coronado, and gave to him what the gods said was in store for him. The mystic forces which reveal future events to mortals he said foretold that the then young Salamancan student should one day become the lord of a great and distant country ; but the portents thence forward were gloomy and sinister: they foretold that a fall from his horse would end his life.

This made a strong impression on Coronado's mind, which grew as the years passed, and as he stood in the midst of the vast prairie which stretched beyond the vision of the eye on every side, surrounded by only a handful of dissatisfied, jealous, restless men, and listened to the marvelous tale of the Indian, who had volunteered to guide him to the fabled realm where wealth was piled mountain high, no wonder that the fate predicted by the sage of Salamanca came to his remembrance. The first prophecy had come true - he was the lord of a great and distant land; - and how soon would the second one prove true? But the story of the Indian was so straightforward, and he stood the rude cross-examination of the Spaniards so well, that Coronado threw his fears to the wind, and determined to make this last attempt to find the kingdom of Quivera and the seven cities of Cibola. So on the 5th day of May, 1541, Coronado and his army quitted the valleys which they had terrorized and "Christianized" so thoroughly, crossed the Pecos river from Santa Fe, and soon entered ujjon the treeless prairies of what is now Indian Territory and the State of Kan- sas. Across mighty plains so bare and treeless that the adventnrers had to make large piles of bnffalo chips tognide them on their return, thev made their way for 800 miles northeasterly, to the banks of a considerable river, which is admitted by all who have studied the route and the distance traveled to have been the Arkansas.

At this point of the march a soldier named Castaneda, ignorant and credulous, but j>ious, became the historian, and he records the story of this weary march. Its weariness may be imagined by thinking of this band of soldiers, clad in the heavy armor of the times, plodding its way through the long summer days over the burning plains of Kansas, grim and silent, each one counting his steps, the more accurately to compute the distance passed. And the picture has a tinge of sadness hanging over it - a pathetic tint coloring both the foreground and the perspective.

But the adventurous knia;hts seem to have had some little amusement to beguile the weary hours - their regular amusement of robbery. On one occasion it is related of them that finding a village with an enormous quantity of skins, they cleaned it out so thoroughly and expeditiously that within fifteen minutes there was not a skin left. The Indians tried to save their precious possessions by force of arms, and the entreating tears of the sc^uaws, but neither availed.

Coronado at first, it will be remembered, had been suspicious of his guide, but had conquered his fears and suspicions. Now again these same suspicions became aroused in Coronado's mind, and they quickly spread among his troops. It was noticed that when they met with the wandering nomads of the plains, if the Turk, as they called the guide, was the first to meet and converse with them, they confirmed his stories, and pointed to the eastward as the true course, whereas if communication was prevented, the tribes knew nothing of the riches and sj)lendor of the land of (^uivcra, and insisted that the country lay to the north instead of to the east.

Coronado, therefore, seeing that the guide had deceived him, and that with the exception of the meat of the buffalo provisions were growing scarce, called a council of war to consider with his captains and lieutenants the best plans to adopt for the future. It was there decided that the general, with thirty of his bravest and best mounted men and six foot soldiers, should proceed northward in search of the land of (^uivera, while the main body of the army should return to the vicin-

Northward from the Arkansas river for many weary hours the little band pursued its way over the Kansas j^lains. July had come; the days were long and hot, and the nights sultry. But dogged perseverance and good horses brought them at last to the southern boundary of Nebraska. And near there, along the Platte river, they again found the long-sought kingdom of Quivera, with Tartarrax the hoary-headed ruler of the realm. But alas for their expectations ! Their dreams of glory and conquest had a most rude awakening. The only precious metal that they saw was a copper plate hanging from the old chief's breast, by which he set great store, and which he seemingly regarded as a god. There were no musical bells, no golden eagle, no silver dishes, no indications of a religious worship - the light of truth had dispelled the dreams of magnificence. Coronado hung his guide, but the guide met death bravely, and with his last breath declared that he knew of no gold, of no cities, of no realm of magnificent riches, and that he had led the Spaniards away from his people that they might be free from persecution and spoliation. In August, Coronado, after erecting a cross which bore the inscription,

The Next Expedition

For one hundred and twenty-one years the great plains of Nebraska were untrodden by the feet of any save the Indian tribes that for centuries had roamed from the jNIissouri to the Rockies, Their buffalo-skin tents formed the onl}' cities, and the battles of the various tribes the only excitement on the prairies, except the chase of the buffalo and deer, and the festive pranks of the storm-king. For a century and nearly a quarter, the copper-colored wild man of the prairie held sway undisputed in his possession of the land. In the year 1662 another visit was made to Quivera, which has been recorded by the Spanish historians, and is the second visit of which record is

The second civilized man to set his foot npon the soil of Nebraska whose visit has been recorded in authentic history, was a soldier, a knight of Spain, Don Diego, Count of Penalosa. This knight, Avho belonged to that period marked by all the glitter, romance and adventure which throw such a charm over the sixteenth and seventeenth eenturies, \vas not a Spaniard, but a Creole; that is, one of American birth but Spanish descent. He was born at Lima, South America, in 1624, and after a career of wonderful vicissitudes, finally left his native continent and drifted northward to Mexico. Here he came into high favor with the Viceroy of the country, who made him, at the age of thirty -six. Governor and Captain-General of New Mexico. This was a most responsible position ; but once settled in it, Penalosa became again restive, and sought to perform some feat which would bring him everlasting glory and renown. Qiiivera was then the same goal of bright prospects that it had been to Coronado, and to that fabled country this knight resolved to force his way. So on the 6tli of March, 1662, while the colonists in New England and Virginia W'Cre laying the foundations of an empire that has since taken in Qui vera, and not only that but thousands of square miles beyond, this Spanish knight set out from Santa Fe to explore the regions to the north and east, to accumulate precious stones and metals, to annex a vast territory to his domains, to conquer the fabled opulent cities, and to win for himself renown and added power and infiuence at the Spanish court.

He set out with a great company of soldiers, Indians, and retainers, two score of baggage wagons carrying his trappings and provisions, and six cannon with which to batter down the walls of the cities of Cil)ola when he should reach them. A friar, Nicholas de Freytas, was the historian of this expedition, and gives with much elaborateness and detail the events of the march northward, the disappointment, disaster, and return of Penalosa. After proceeding for several weeks along the route laid out, the little Spanish army found itself confronted by a mighty river, along which dwelt an Indian nation who were called the Escanzaquas, the residence of this nation being near the fortieth jiarallel of latitude. This nation was at war with the Indians of (^uivera, and when Penalosa arrived were just on the point of starting northward to give their enemies battle. 'Hhe force of the Escauzaquas numbered about 3,000, and immediately upon his arrival Penalosa joined this force and accompanied the Indians on their journey. For a day this army marched westwardly along the right bank of a mighty, rushing river, until it made a bend so that its current came from the north. For another day the mai'ch was continued to the northward, until toward evening the soldiers perceived across the river, now flowing eastward again, a high ridge whose sides Avere covered with signal fires, which showed that the natives were aware of their approach. Still marching forward, following the curves of the river, the little army came to a spot where, on the opposite side, another river, flowing from the ridge, entered the stream previously followed. Here was found a very populous city - one of the cities of Qui vera - of vast extent. The chiefs of Quivera came over the river to welcome the Spaniards, and showed them every mark of esteem ; but on that same night the Escauzaquas crossed the river, burned the city, and put thousands of the Quiverans to death. The next day the Spaniards spent some time in extinguishing the flames, admiring the vast number of dwellings and the great fertility of the soil, and in hunting for the fabled wealth of Quivera. After spending some time in this search and finding nothing, Penalosa, on the 11th of June, 1662, turned his troops southward and departed for his Mexican home.

To what points these expeditions penetrated has been the subject of much contention and of much difference of opinion. But none claim that Coronado failed to enter this State some distance, and none dispute that Penalosa reached the Platte. At just what point the Platte was touchet], or at what point Nebraska was penetrated, is the dispute.

As to the visit of Coronado : The most generally accepted opinion, based upon the desci'iption of the country, its grasses, animals, and general topography, is that Coronado entered the State somewhere between Gage county on the east and Furnas county on the west, probably east of the present location of Superior, Nuckolls county. Authorities differ as to the distance and direction traveled by Coronado ; but the opinion of Gen. Simpson and of Mr. Gallatin is that the Republican river was crossed and the march taken in a northeasterly direction, and that the northern point reached was somewhere west of and on nearly the ^iume jxirallel with the present site of Lincoln. The Spanish cavalier evidently did nut reach the salt basin, or his chronicler wonld have noted the jjccnliar appearance of the conntry, and the presence of the salt. Coronado himself states that his expedition reached beyond the fortieth degree of north latitude, but how much further can only be judged by the description of the country traversed, the streams crossed, and the direction of the line of march. The recent finding of Spanish stirrups, bridle-bits, and other horse trappings of Moctrish pattern, near the Republican, buried deej) in the ground, while it does not prove that so early a visit was made to Nebraska, does indicate that the S]>aniards, hundreds of years ago, traversed the region now embraced in the State, and left traces of their presence.

The point reached by Penalosa has not so much to do with the present treatise; but without entering upon any discussion of the reasons for the location, it seems to be the most generally accepted theory that Penalosa reached the Platte at or near the spot now occupied by the city of Columbus.

It will be noticed that the land of (^uivera was located by these early explorers in a half dozen different places, each spot being discarded on fresh reports of wealthy regions "just l^eyond," and the Quivera of tradition never was discovered. ]5ut the legends spurred on those early explorers mile after mile, league after league, n^ "^'iward from their southern home, until they had crossed the line that brought them within the confines of the State of Nebraska. The realm of Quivera is now a reality, and the seven cities of Cibola are legion. The dreams of the Spaniards have come true, and in this land, visited by them centuries ago, are found the gold and silver, the populous cities, the magnificent houses, the wealth and civilization, of the fabled kingdom of Tartarrax.

Nebraska From Territorial Times Chapter Iii

Nebraska froji Territorial Times - The First Officers under the Territorial Organization, and a List of State Officers from the Beginning to the Present Time - The Present State Officials.

In 1673 the domain of modern Nebraska was claimed by Spain. It was a part of the great Northwest Territory, then but dimly known or appreciated. In 1683 La Salle claimed this region in the name of the king of France. In 1762 the French formally relinquished Louisiana to Spain ; but it was receded to France in 1800, and Napoleon Bonaparte sold it to the United States, a master stroke of good policy on the part of the great Frenchman, and an act which alone would serve as a foundation for the fame of Thomas Jefferson. The sale was ratified by the United States October 31, 1803. The formal transfer was made December 20, 1803. On the 26th of March, 1804, Congress divided the territory into two sections, the southern portion being named "The Territory of Orleans," and the northern, " The District of Louisiana." Nebraska was included in the District ru^ l^ouisiana, as was the domain lying west of the Mississippi, north of Louisiana, as far west as claimed by the United States, including Minnesota. This magnificent territory, of 1,122,975 square miles, was organized as the "Territory of Louisiana," under an act of Congress passed March 3, 1805. St. Louis was made the capital, and President Jefferson promptly selected General James Wilkinson for Governor, and Frederick Bates for Secretary. These two officials, together with Judges R. J. Meigs and John B. C. Lucas, of the Supreme Court, were given legislative control of the great Territory.

Great Britain looked with resentful eye upon the success of the United States in getting possession of the splendid Louisiana domain. She had expected to wrest it from Napoleon, but by a swift stroke of diplomacy he placed it beyond her reach. But it was not her intention to give up the great advantages offered by the possession of at least a portion of Louisiana, and she only awaited the time when re- lief from continental war should enable her to recover the lost advantage. Thomas Jeti'erson knew this, and with masterly decision and genius he proceeded to do all that lay in his power to seize upon the fullest possible interpretation of the stipulations with Bonaparte. To that end he set up a government under (jcueral Wilkinson, as related. He at once organized an expedition under the connuand of Captains ]\[i'rriweather Lewis and ^^'illiam Clarke, known as the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, to go into this unexplored region by way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, in order to claim portions of the territory by virtue of discovery, to estimate its resources, and find a short and practicable route to the Pacific ocean. This party of forty-three men left the Mississippi one mile below the mouth of the Missouri river on Monday, May 14, 1804. On the 21st of July the expedition camped at the mouth of the Platte river, and the next day stopped near Bellevue. On the 2d of August, a council with chiefs of the Otoe and jSIissouri Indians of the Platte country was held, on the site of Fort Calhoun, in Washington county.

The party })roceeded northward, stopping near the mouth of the Xiobrara river, on Nebraska soil for the last time until its return, in ISOG, after having made its way through a trackless wilderness for over four thousand miles, in going and returning.

The first permanent settlement upon the present territory of Nebraska was made by the American Fur Company, at Bellevue, in 1810, under the leadership of Col. Peter A. Sarpy, a shrewd, bold, and enterprising Frenchman, In 1842 John C.Fremont made a path across the Territory, up the Platte valley, and in 1847 the Mormons widened the trail in finding their way to the "promised laud." About 1850 the great rush to the California gold fields opened the great highway across Nebraska never to l)e discontinued, and exhibited the splendid ])ossibilities of the "Platte country" to a class of men who did not fail to let the light of Nebraska's great natui-al resources, which they had seen, shine before the Eastern States in after years, when the craze for the golden West had subsided. In 1847 the Presbyterian church established a mission at Bellevue. In 1848 Fort Kearney was planted by the Government, on the present site of Nebraska City, but was afterward removed to Kearney county, taking the name of Fort Childs, but later the name of Fort Kearney.

In 1852-3 a bill Nvas introduced to create "Platte Territory," comprising all of the present domain of Kansas and all of Nebraska south of the Platte River. This bill went to the House Committee on Territories, which reported a bill creating the same domain into Nebraska Territory. The people of Iowa were an"xious to have the new Territory directly west of their border, and to that end such of them as were interested in having a good field for schemes of emigration, sent Hadley D. Johnson, of Council Bluifs, to Washington to induce Congress to readjust the boundaries of the proposed Territory. Through his zealous activity two Territories were recommended by the committee instead of one, in the famous Kansas-Nebraska Bill, Avhich developed such a bitter war between the slavery and anti-slavery parties, in Congress and out.

Finally, Nebraska was organized as a Territory on May 30, 1854, with an area of 351,558 square miles. It reached from the 40th parallel of north latitude to the present boundary of the British possessions, and from the Missouri river westward to the summit of the Rocky mountains. On February 28, 1861, 16,035 square miles were cut off to be attached to Colorado, and on March 2, 1861, 228,907 square miles were set apart for Dakota. Finally, on March 3, 1863, another slice was taken off to form Idaho Territory. This was the final change in the area of Nebraska Territory, and consisted of 45,- 999 square miles.

President Franklin Pierce appointed as officers for the new Territoiy, the following : For Governor, Francis Burt, of South Carolina ; for Secretary, Thomas B. Cuming, of Iowa; for Chief Justice, Fenner Furguson, of Michigan ; and for Associate Justices, James Bradley, (»f Indiana, and Edward R. Harden, of Georgia; for Marshal, Mark "W. Izard, of Arkansas; and for Attorney, Experience Estabrook, of Wisconsin.

Governor Burt reached Bellevue, the Territorial capital, October 7, 1854. He took the oath of office on October 16th, and died there October 18, 1854. Secretary Cuming became the acting Governor.

The Territory was divided into the eight counties of Burt, Washington, Dodge, Douglas, Cass, Pierce, Forney, and Richardson. One or more voting precincts were established in each of these counties.

An enumeration of the Territorial inhabitants was made in October, 1854, for Leoislative representation. According to this, each county was entitled to one Councilman, except Douglas, whicli Mas entitled to four, and Pierce, which had three. Burt, AVashington, Dodge, Forney, and liichardson, each had two Representatives. Douglas liad eight, Cass three, and Pierce five. The first general election took place on December 12, 1854, and the first Legislature met at Omaha, whence the capital had been removed, on January 16, 1855. This pioneer body was composed of the following-named gentlemen :

The First Council

Officers of the Council - Dr. G. L. Miller, of Omaha, Chief Clerk; O. F. Lake, of Brownville, Assistant Clerk; S. A. Lewis, of Omaha, Sergeant-nt-Arms ; N. R. Folsom, Tekamah, Doorkeeper.

House Of Representatives

Douglas County - A. J. Hanscom, Speaker; \\ . X. Byers, William Clancy, F. Davidson, Thomas Davis, A. D. Goyer, A. J. Popplct(jn, and Robert A\'iiitted.

Nebeaska From Territorial Times

Mark W. Izard was appointed Governor in February, 1855, and William A. Richardson in April, 1857, who resigned in 1858. J. Sterling Morton Avas then Secretary, and became the acting Governor until the appointment of Samuel Black, in 1859. He closed the line of Democratic Governors for Nebraska, and was succeeded by Alvin Saunders, of INIt. Pleasant, Iowa, who was appointed by Abraham Lincoln, in 1861. Governor Saunders was succeeded by David Butler, in 1867, when Nebraska became a State.

The question of organizing a State government was voted on in March, 1860, and the people rejected the proposition to erect a State, by a vote of 1,987 to 1,877. Congress passed the enabling act in 1864 for the admission of Nebraska. The Territorial Legislature framed a constitution in 1866, which was ratified at an election held on June 21st of the same year. Congress passed an admission act July 28th, Avhich was vetoed by Andrew Johnson, who vetoed a similar 1)111 in January, 18(]7; but it Avas passed over his veto on February 8th and 9th. There was one condition to this act : Nebraska must assent to " no denial of the elective franchise, or any other right, to any person by reason of race or color." The Legislature promptly ratified this condition, on February 20th, and President Johnson proclaimed this compliance on March 1, 1867.

As soon as the State was admitted, the Legislature decided to remove the capital from Omaha, Avhich Avas accomplished by commissioners, in October, 1867. A small hamlet named Lancaster, in Lancaster county, was chosen by the commissioners and approved by the Legislature. The ucAV capital AAas named Lincoln, after Abraham Lincoln.

Nebeaska As A State

David Butler had been elected GoA'crnor of the proposed ucav State in 1866, and uoav entered upon his duties as the first GoA'crnor of the State. He Avas reelected October 8, 1868, and October 13, 1870, but Avas impeached and removed from office on June, 2, 1871, and Secre- iTtarv William H. James acted as Governor until after the regular election of 1872. Robert \\\ Furnas ^vas then elected Governor, and installed on January lo, 1873. He was succeeded in 1875 by Silas Garber, who was re-elected, and served until January 9, 1879, Avhen Albinus Nance was inducted into the office, and held it until January 4, 1883. James AV. Dawes was the State's Chief Executive thence until succeeded by John M. Thayer, January (3, 1887, who is now serving his second term. Gov. Thayer is one of Nebraska's citizens most distinguished for long and honorable service. He was born in Bellingham, Massachusetts, and is the son of Elias and Ruth (Staples) Thayer. He graduated from Brown University, in 1847, having studied law. He removed to Nebraska in 1854, and settled at Omaha, near where he farmed for several years. He entered politics in 1855, becoming a candidate for Congress, but vras beaten by Fenner Ferguson, perhaps the most successful politician of Territorial times in Nebraska. He was defeated for the same (^)ffice in 1860 by Samuel G. Daily, but was elected to the Territorial Legislature in 1860, and served during the term of 1860-1.

In 1855 he was elected Brigadier-General of the Territorial militia by the Legislature, and that year led a company of 150 men against the troublesome Pawnee Indians, and again in 1859 led 194 men, with a piece of artillery, against the same Indians, capturing an entire camp. He was also emjJoyed in peace negotiations with the Indians. This gave him <piite a military experience.

In 1861 he was instrumental in raising and organizing the First Regiment of Nebraska Volunteer Inflmtry, of which he was commissioned Colonel. After seeing some service in Missouri, he was sent with a brigade to help Gen. Grant at Fort Donelson, commanding the Second Brigade of Wallace's Division in that Ijattle, and also at the battle of Shik)h. For able and gallant conduct in these two mem(»rable acticms he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. At the time Sherman stormed Chickasaw bayou, in his attempt to approach Vicksburg from the north, (Jeneral Thayer led one of the most important of the storming columns, having a horse shot under him. He i)arti(ipated in the Vicksburg Campaign, helped Sherman to captin-c .Jackson, and then assisted to reduce Pemberton at A'icksburg. Here he was appointed Major-General of Volunteers for gallant conduct. Subsequently he was engaged in a campaign with

Gov. John M. Thayer

General Steele in Arkansas, and near the close of the war he was placed in command of the Array of the Frontier, to subdue the Indians, Avho had been terrorizing the West with their barbarities.

He was elected United States Senator for Nebraska by the Legislature of 1866, when it was thought the Territory wt>uld be at once admitted as a State; but it not being admitted until the following year, he did not take his seat until March, 1867. He drew the four-year term, and Thomas W. Tipton the six-year term. In 1875 he was appointed Territorial Governor of Wyoming, and served one term.

In 1886 he was elected Governor of Nebraska by about 25,000 majority, and was reelected in 1888, making about thirty-four years since he began to distinguish himself in the public service of the Territory of Nebraska. He is the most distinguished military man of this State, and is Nebraska's oldest living United States Senator. His military service alone has given him a national reputation.

He was married to Miss Mary T. Allen, a lady of ability and refinement, who was the daughter of the Rev. John Allen, a minister of the Baptist church in Massachusetts. Mr. John M. Thayer jr. is the Governor's private secretary.

The growth of Nebraska has been steady and rapid, as the development of population will indicate. In 1855 the census returns gave the Territory a population of 4,494. In 1856 the inhabitants were set down at 10,716. In 1860 the number had grown to 28,841. By 1870 there were 122,993. Ih 1875 the population had advanced to 246,280, and by the census of 1880, Nebraska had 452,542 people. In 1885 the enumeration showed an aggregate of 740,645, and the election returns of 1888 indicated a population of about 1,200,000. In other words, the increase from 1870 to 1880 was nearly 300 per centum, and that from 1880 to 1890 will approximate close to 200 per centum. By the year 1900, Nebraska will doubtless have quite 2,000,000 population, and her wealth will have increased accordingly.

In fact, the development of the resources of the State has fully kept pace with the growth of population, and in some features has outrun the rate of settlement.

In 1871 a constitutional convention assembled at the capitol, on June 5th, and adjourned August 19th. The people refused to adopt the constitution framed, on the 19th of the following September. In the summer of 1875, a second cunventiun framed another constitution, which was adopted by the people at the October election following. This constitution provided that there should be eighty-four Representatives and thirty Senators, until 1880, when the number should be regulated by law ; but the Senate should not exceed thirty-tliree and the House should not exceed one hundred. The first Legislature under this constitution assembled on the first ^Monday in January, 1877. John M. Thayer and Thomas W. Tipton were cliosen United States Senators in 1867, the former to serve until 1871, and the latter until 1875. The roster of United States Senators elected since the State was admitted is as follows :

United States Sexatoes Nebraska State Representatives In Congress

For the 50th Congress, 1887-89, there were elected ; John A. McShane, for the first District. I George W. E. Dorsey, for the Third Dis- .James Laird, for the Second District. I trict.

Nebraska Feom Territorial Times

Nebraska is in the eighth United States Court Circuit, composed of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, and Colorado. The court officers for both the United States District and Circuit Courts are as subjoined :

Hon. Brad D. Slaughter, who is now the United States Marshal for the District of Nebraska, was commissioned on the 19th of March, 1889. He is one of the best known public men of this State, and his administrative ability in a position of this kind is hardly excelled by any man in the State.

His father was the Rev. W. B. Slaughter, D. D., and his mother was a daughter of Rev. E. Buck, both ministers being members of the Geneseo Conference of the M. E. Church of New York.

Brad D. Slaughter was born in Wayne county, New York, on November 12, 1844. His father removed to Chicago, where Master Brad was educated in the city public schools, and where he learned the printers' trade and graduated as a newspaper correspondent. For this reason he is always most accommodating to correspondents, as any newspaper man knows who has reported the House during recent Legislative sessions.

He enlisted in the Union army with his father, who was captain of Company G, 39th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which rendezvou.sed at Chicago. Afterward he enlisted in Company K, of the 67th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and gave faithful .service to the cause of the Union throughout the war.

At the close of the great conflict he removed to Nebraska City, where he married in 1866. He made his residence in Omaha for a time, and later removed to Lincoln, where he lived until 1879. At the close of the Legislative session of that year he took up his residence in FuUerton, Nance county, which county he had been instrumental in bringing into existence.

every succeeding term except that of iNSo. In thi?- oltice he distinguished himself for the exceedingly able and thorough management he save to its intricate affairs. He was also recoanized as a very skillful ])arliamentarian, and many a time he has rescued the House and Speaker from a complication in the proceedings, the run of which he never seemed to lose. The House of the Twenty-first Legislature presented him with a beautiful silver tea service, as a token of the esteem of the members for his careful work as recording officer and the general esteem that body entertained for him personally. He is not a man of many words, and accepted the gift in a l)rief and pertinent speech, in which he used a sentence substantially like the following: ''In all duties I have been called upon to attend to, I have made it a rule to do the work just exactly as near right as I knew how." This sentence contains the explanation of his success and that of all men who sustain themselves in responsible positions.

In 1880 he was appointed Supervisor of the United States census, his district including the entire South Platte section of Nebraska. It fell to his province to appoint, supply, instruct, and obtain reports from 363 enumerators, but his management of this responsible and difticult office was as prudent and efficient as could be possil)le under the circumstances. Few supervisors performed better service, and of the sixty-one United States Marshals in the United States it may safely be doubted whether one will prove more faithful, able and successful than jNIarshal Brad D. Slaughter, of Nebraska.

-'Elected in 186fi, but did not become Governor until February 21. 1867. o\ving to tlie delay in admitting Nebraska into the Union. Secretary W. H. James acted as Goveruor Irom June 2, 1871, until installation of Governor Furnas, January 13, 1873.

Gilbert L. Laws, now Secretary of State for Nebraska, was the sixth of a family of eleven children, and was born on a farm in Kichland county, Illinois, March 11, 1838.

His father, James Laws, was born near Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1801, of Scotch-Irish parentage, his father being a Scotchman and his mother an Irish woman. He removed with his parents to Southern Illinois, and in time, by industry and economy, became a large farmer and stock raiser, supplying in part the Indian Agency at Chicago with beef cattle. The corn from his own and neighboring farms was by him shipped in flat-boats down the Wabash and so on to New Orleans for a market. Opening farms and planting orchards, building houses and bridges, constructing roads and operatingmills, taxed not only his own energies, but kept at work a number of men settled about him, who were constantly in his employ.

in his views during- the war that he regarded every Democrat as a public enemy, and would not exchange the common courtesies of neighbors with any member of that party.

The mother of G. L. Laws was Lucinda Calhoun, a second cousin to the statesman of that name. She was born in Abbeyville, South Carolina, in 1806. She, too, was a Campbellite, and her whole life was sacredly dedicated to the discharge of motherly cares and Christian duties.

G. L. Laws spent the first seven years of his life on his father's farm in Richland county, attending school a few weeks in winter when old enough, dropping corn and helping "shear sheep" in the spring, carrying water and other drinks to "the hands" in summer, and "shucking the down row" in the fall. In school he became somewhat noted as a speller, and was a fair reader, these being the only branches taught boys under ten years of age in those days in that country.

In 1845 the family removed to Iowa county, Wisconsin, bought a tract of land, and opened a farm. Here were no schools, and over five years elapsed before an opportunity offered to attend school again. In 1847 he worked a lead mine on the halves. In 1850 his father traded his farm for a tract of land on the Wisconsin river, where he opened a ferry, now known as " Laws's Ferry," and where he kept a lumber yard, the subject of this tale being obliged to make himself usefid as ferryman and salesman in the yard.

In the winter of 1851 and 1852 he chopped cord MOod and split rails. Here, in the summer of 1853, he crossed the river and walked three miles morning and evening to attend a district school. In the winter of 1854 he "did chores for his board" and attended the same school. In June, 1855, he left home without consulting the family, for the sole purj)Ose of making it possil)le to attend l)etter schools for a longer term each year. During June and July he })ut in a number of weeks of very iiard work for a good deacon of a church, for which he received no ])ay, and this fact may have affecteil his whole religious life.

During the years 1856 and 1857 he worked a short time on a farm, rafted railroad ties, hel]ied build the Illinois Central with barrow and spade, "rolled sugar" on a steam-boat, cooked for a crew of men in a logging camp, chopped saw-logs, drove saw-logs, and run a saw- mill, rafted and run lumber, landing in 8t, Louis in August of 1857, with a large "fleet" of lumber, which he could not sell, and was obliged to start a lumber yard in that city, which he did on Ninth street and Cass avenue. His experience as a ferryman, with something of an aptitude for such work, made him an expert riverman, and brought him from $.3.00 to $10.00 per day during spring and summer months, rafting lumber down the Wisconsin river to Mississippi towns. After the first winter, during which he was a cook, studying meantime, and receiving much valuable assistance from the '4)oss," who was a graduate of Yale, he attended school winters and such parts of fall and spring terms as he could until twenty years old, when, after paying yearly some small debts for those in a measure dependent upon him, he found himself the possessor of §300.00 in cash. This fund enabled him to quit the more lucrative but less desirable lines of labor, and turn his attention to teaching school, reversing the order of former years, now working winters and attending school summers. He enjoyed, for longer and shorter terms, the advantages afforded by Hascall University, at Mazo Manie; atSilsby Academy, at Richland City ; and at Milton College, all in Wisconsin ; but, except the latter, all very poor and without libraries or apparatus. At one of the academies he finished a course in trigonometry and surveying where the only instrument for use was an old surveyor's compass with a broken needle. The teachers were all educated gentlemen, and some of them able men, earnest, honest, and patriotic in their efforts to establish ''seats of learning" in the West.

This was at the opening of the Civil War. " Men and steel " were wanted for national defense. In March, 1861, Mr. Laws signed his name to a paper, pledging his services provided the company was called into service before he became located in the University at Madison, Wisconsin, where he had arranged to complete his education. His school closed on Friday, the 2d of May, and the next morning a dispatch was received calling the company into service.

drifted into the Army of the Potomac, and his regiment was assigned to General Hancock's corps, and with ^McC'lelhin's great army entered upon the Peninsular Campaign, Almost on the anniversary of his call to the front, ^lay 15, 1862, ]Mr, Laws was in the field, engaged in the Battle of Williamsburg. He was twice wounded in that action, once in the left arm and again in the left ankle. With 1,200 other wounded men, of both armies and several nationalities, Mr. Laws w^as taken on board the steamer '' Vanderbilt," which was moored above Yorktown, and all were conveyed to Baltimore, Maryland, for hospital care and surgical treatment. On the voyage those twelve hundred men had no aid or care except that given by four Sisters of Charity, M'ho labored for the comfort of the suffering soldiers with an impartial fidelity that was the perfection of heroic Christian fortitude. No man was neglected; all were treated precisely alike. Those faithful women stayed at their posts as long as they could stand up, and the men almost forgot the agonies of their own wounds in grateful admiration of those most noble attendants. ^Nlr, Laws to this day regards their grand devotion to duty as one of the most genuine and splendid exhibitions of human excellence that he has ever known. For eight days Mr. Laws's wounds went without surgical attention. The bones of his ankle being shattered to pieces, the flesh had begun to decompose when treatment was at last begun, and his leg above the ankle had to be amputated. Even with this severe remedy the battle for life was a terrible one, and his friends hardly expected to see him rise from his bed again. He lay on his back in the hot hospital until the processes of his spine protruded, and his flesh wasted away until he weighed but little over seventy pounds.

The ladies of Baltimore carried on the most perfect hos})ital service organized anywhere in the Nation. Fifteen thousand of them were banded together, and every day they visited every sick and wounded soldier, administering comforts and delicacies until they, in matters of diet, actually killed some of the men with kindness. Tliis they did without regard to which army the soldier fought in. But amongst themselves they enjoyed a partisan hate that was not excelled anywhere in the United States. Under their gracious care Mr. I^aws continued fn^m the ]3tli day of May until the 29th of July, part of the time hovering in the very shadow of the Dark Valley; but his strong constitution enaljled him to pass the crisis safely.

On the 2l)th of July his brother came from Wisconsin and easily took him in his arms to the train which conveyed them back to his home county. In September he was able to get out on crutches, for the first time in over four months. On that day he \vent to the county seat to attend the Republican county convention, at the earnest solicitation of the loyal people. The moment the convention was organized a resolution was passed, unanimously and amid much enthusiasm, providing that G. L. Laws could take his choice of the county offices, and his selection would be ratified by the people.

Mr. Laws agreed to accept the office of County Clerk, and the nomination was given him by the unanimous voice of the convention. He was elected on November 4, 18G2, by a majority of 843, when the average Republican majority of the county was about 300. He was reelected in 1864, and again in 18G6, and served six years in that office. At the expiration of his term he was appointed postmaster of Richland Center, which position he filled with ability until April, 1876, when he resigned for the purpose of removing to Nebraska.

Mr. Laws has enjoyed enough newspaper experience to fully entitle him to wear the badge of the craft. In November, 1863, in company with Samuel C. Hyatt and William J. Waggoner, he bought the Richland County Observer. Although this was the first experience of these gentlemen in newspaper work, they made a live and successful paper of it. All were soldiers and fiist friends. On May 12, 1864, he sold his interest in the paper to a brother of William J. Waggoner - James H. AVaggouer. On August 8, 1867, the Observer and The Live Republican were consolidated under the name of the Richland County Republican, of which Mr. G. L. Laws owned a one-fourth interest, in company Avith James H. Waggoner, who owned one-half and managed the paper, and C. H. Smith. In a few months Messrs. Laws and Smith sold their interest in the Republican to George D. Stevens. On September 1, 1874, Mr. Laws again bought a half interest in the Republican from Air. Waggoner, and he continued a joint proprietor of the paper with W. M. Fogo for tw^o years, and finally sold his interest to O. G. Munson, and so ended his newspaper work until he became a citizen of Nebraska.

Incidentally it may be said that Mr, Laws was ever a very busy man. If he ever had any months of idleness from the age of six years to the present time, the records do not reveal when it was. Besides the evi- donees ofhis indnstrv :ilre:idy related, we find liina president of" the Ijoard of town trustees of Richland Center in 1861>. About the same time he had a business connection with a real estate firm. During' this busy period of his life, if one period could be much more busy than another, he was one of a board of five trustees who gave personal attention to the erection of the First Baptist Church of Richland Center. This structure was of brick, on a high stone basement, and cost 86,000, a very large sum for the pioneers of that locality to raise at that date. The M'ork was delayed from tinie to time because of a lack of funds, but the trustees held on tenaciously and finally completed the l)uilding, which was the finest church structure in the county as late as 1884. The name of G. L. Laws also appears on the roll of Masters of Richland Lodge No. 66, A, F. and A. M., of Richland Center, which was organized in 1856.

In April, 1876, Mr. Laws resigned the office of postmaster of Richland Center, and removed to Nebraska. He located at Orleans, in Harlan county, at which point he purchased the Republican Valley Sentinel, and took up the editorial pen for a fourth time. He soon became secretary of the Republican Valley Land Association, which position he held until about 1880, when he was succeeded by J. D. jNIacfarland, of Lincoln. In 1881 he sold the Soiiinel to Wenn & Knight. From 1881 he was engaged as a clerk in the land office at Bloomington, and also assisted in a bank at Orleans during a part of this ])eriod.

He was appointed and confirmed registrar of the Federal land office at McCook on March 3, 1883, and took possession of that office on June loth following. He administered the affiiirsof this resi)onsible post with unquestioned efficiency until lie was removed by Grover Cleveland, on November 2, 1886. He had already been nominated by the Republican party of the State for the office of Secretary of State, and on the next day after he left the land office he was elected Secretary of State over Richard Thompson, Democrat, (who ran ahead of his ticket,) by 21,450 votes, the total vote cast being less than 139,- 000. Mr. I>aws administered the affairs of this very important office with fidelity and success, combining, as it does, responsible relations to nearly all the State in.-titutions, the State lioard of Transportation, and other State executive boards, these complex relations calling ibr large executive ability and sound judgment. He performed the work of his first term so well, however, that he was renominated for a second term by acclamation by the Republican State Convention of 1888, and was re-elected by nearly 28,000 majority. The present administration of Secretary Laws has been able in an eminent degree, and he ranks as one of the very safest and best officials that Nebraska possesses to-day.

Though somewhat out of chronological order, yet, on the principle of reserving the best things for the conclusion, we will here refer to the marriage of Mr. Laws, This took place at the former residence of the bride's father, Mr. Isaac Lawrence, in Bear creek valley, in Richland county, Wisconsin, October 25, 1868. The bride was Miss Josephine Lawrence, and, as Mrs. G. L. Laws, is too well known to Lincoln society to require an introduction. Mr. Laws was one of eleven children. His own children are three in number, all daughters. Their names are Gertrude H,, Theodosia C, and Helen Lucile Laws.

The State Auditors have been six, Mr. Gillespie continuing from Territorial times into the State administration about six years. The list of State Auditors is as shown below :

Hon. Thomas H. Benton, the present State Auditor of Nebraska, was installed in the very responsible position he now occupies on the third day of January, 1889. He was then but a little over thirty years of age, the youngest man who ever held such an important office in this State, and one of the few who have been elevated to so high a place of trust in the United States at so early an age. And in making him their choice for Auditor his fellow citizens exhibited a confidence in his ability to discharge the difficult duties of the place that was remarkable, as he received the highest vote of any state officer, notwithstanding the fact that a number of able men and tried officials were associated with him as candidates.

Mr. Benton was born in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, October 17, 1858. His father, William I. Benton, was engaged in the practice of law when a young man, but later in life followed agricultural pursuits. He was a plain, sturdy citizen, and with his wife, Mrs. Emaline Benton, believed in the good old customs and principles for which the descendants of the New England Puritans are distinguished. Both his parents were Americans, possessing the staunch virtues of the people who founded the civilization of the ^^'cstern world, along the shore of the Atlantic.

The State Auditor spent his boyhood on a farm until he reached the age of ten years, attending to the usual duties of farm life, and at the same time cidtivating the advantages afforded by the common schools of the locality where he lived. At the age of ten, and in 1868, his father removed to Nebraska, and located in Fremont, b(!coming one of the pioneers of the State, and thus initiating his son, the future State Auditor, into the severe school of practical western farm life in the early days of Nebraska. He worked on a farm in summer time, and attended school during winters, at Fremont, until he reached his thirteenth year, when he spent a year, that of 1872-3, at Doane College, at Crete, Nebraska,

In the summer of 1873 young Benton entered a telegraph office at Fremont, Avhere he spent nearly a year, and became a practical operator. The following spring he became recorder in the county clerk's office at Fremont, then in his sixteenth year, and, perhaps, the youngest recorder of important public instruments who ever performed such work in Nebraska. But young Benton always made it a j)oint to do his work well, and filled the position with credit to himself until January 1, 1877, when he secured the position of clerk in the office <tf State Auditor J. B. Weston. This he filled acceptably until the summer of 1877, when he accepted a place as salesman in the book store of Arthur Gibson, of Fremont. Here he remained until the .'spring of 1878, when he was given the post of book-keeper for a foundry at Fremont, and discharged the duties of that ])osition until IX'cember of tiiat year.

On the first day of January, 1879, at the age of twenty-one years, he was elected second assistant clerk of the House, and discharged the duties of that oflicc with marked ability until the close of February, when he was given the })osition of book-keeper by State Auditor F. W. Liedtke.

111 this situation Mr. Beuton Mas at home, his ability and skill as an accountant being even at this time beyond question. He continued to occupy this responsible post during the entire term of Auditor Liedtke, and that of his successor, John AVallichs,

On January 7, 1885, H. A. Babcock, then State Auditor, selected Mr. Benton for the position of Deputy State Auditor. In this important trust Mr. Benton acquitted himself with all that thorouo'hness, prudence and tact which the duties of an efficient administration of the duties of the place required, and to such a degree of success that when he became a candidate for the office of State Auditor, in the summer of 1888, the most searching criticisms of his opponents could not reveal a blemish in his integrity, nor a shortcoming in the execution of the work that had been assigned him. He was nominated against such strong competitors as John Peters, of Albion, and Henry Groshans, of Sutton. His election was accomplished by the highest aggregate vote received by any State officer on the ticket, a circumstance which affiards Mr. Benton occasion for a larsfe decree of just pride.

On the third day of January, 1889, Mr. Benton was duly installed in the office of State Auditor of Nebraska, and he has discharged the complex responsibilities of this important position, since that date, with conspicuous fidelity to duty and the high manifestation of esteem expressed for him by the people of the State at the polls.

Hon. Thos. H. Benton is a relative of the famous Senator Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, who so ably and honorably represented the people of his State in eminent positions of trust for a third of a century.

Mr. Benton was married to Miss Fanny McManigal, of Lincoln, on the 8th of August, 1881, and is a brother-in-law of Hon. G. W. E. Dorsey, ISIember of Congress from the Third District. He esteems his honors highly; but his little daughter, Hazel M. Benton, born August 24, 1886, is regarded by Mr. Benton, next to Mrs. Benton, as the best of all his treasures.

Hon. John E. Hill, the Treasurer for the State of Nebraska, is by virtue of his office a member of the State Board of Transportation, the State Board of Educational Lands and Funds, the State Board of Public Lauds and Buildings, the State Board of Purchases and Supplies, the State Board of Equalization, the State Board of Pharmacy, the State Board of Printing, the State Board of Banking, and the State Normal Board. In other words, he is a member of the main executive boards of the State.

As biography is the foundation of history, a brief sketch of Mr. Hill's life is very appropriate to a history of Lincoln, in which he is now a prominent figure.

His father's name was Samuel Hill, who was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania. He was descended on his father's side probably from the Scotch. His mother, a grandmother of the State Treasurer, was named Van Ordestrand. She was probably a native of Holland. Samuel Hill was apprenticed, when young, to learn the hatter's trade, and spent four years "bound out" at this occupation. Tiien he followed the life of a farmer, in Ohio, and later in life became a merchant. He was a prudent, cautious, business man. He spent his closing years at Hey worth, Illinois, where he died, in 1882. During his life he held several important public positions.

The mother of the Treasurer was, before marriage. Miss Pamela Edgar. She was a woman of high spirit and energy, courageous, persistent, devoted to duty and success. She was born at Berlin, Holmes county, Ohio. On her mother's side she was descended from the Scotch. Her father was of Irisli nativity. His ancestors made a name in the military history of Ireland, Col. Edgar and others of the name being brave defenders of the cause of Ireland's independence. Her fatlier was a prominent AVhig politician of Ohio, and was a member of the early Legislature of that State. Her death occurred at Heyworth, Illinois, in 187L

The Treasurer, John E. Hill, was born in Berlin, Ohio. He spent his boyhood on a farm, working in summer, and going to school in winter, like most farmer boys had to do, from 1840 to 1865. When seventeen years of age he removed, with his father's family, to Defiance county, Ohio, near Farmer's Center, where he continued to follow agricultural pursuits in summer, but taught district school in the winter. This was the routine of his life until 1861, with the exception of one year, which he spent at West Unity Academy, near his home.

In 1861 he enlisted in the 14th Ohio Infantry, but was soon afterward prostrated with typhoid fever, and did not recover his health for nearly a year. The perilous condition of the Union in 1862 stirred the blood of the men of his home region, and early in August they assembled and formed a company by general agreement. The work of its organization required only four days, and at the close of the fourth the company chose John E. Hill its captain, unanimously. On the fifth day the company reported for duty at Toledo, Ohio, and was assigned to Company F, of the 111th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Col. J. R. Bond. The regiment soon began duty under Gen. Buel, at Louisville, Kentucky. After moving to Frankfort and thence to Bowling Green, Company F and one other company, under the command of Capt. J. E. Hill, were assigned to Fort Baker, Kentucky, of which Capt. Hill had charge during the winter of 1862 and 1863. Here he was attacked by typhoid-pneumonia, and his life was despaired of for several days ; but he was able to take command of his company in the spring. The company next was engaged in the campaign in East Tennessee, and was with the first troops that entered Knoxville. This was the active contest to oppose the advance of Longstreet, after Chickamauga. During the campaign in Tennessee, Capt. Hill was designated as Provost-JNIarshal by General Schofield, and had command of the captured towns of that State.

The winter of 1863-64 was spent in East Tennessee, and then Captain Hill's command joined Sherman in his grand campaign of battles from Chattanooga to Atlanta, one of the longest periods of continued fighting in the history of the world. The guns of the tAvo armies were not silent a day from the 9th of May until some time in September. On the first date named Captain Hill's company engaged the enemy at Buzzard's Roost, and he led his command into every important action from that point to Atlanta. It seemed to be the fortune of his company to be in the hottest of nearly all the great battles of this memorable campaign, such as Ressaca, Peach Tree, Kenesaw, and Atlanta. A\'lien Atlanta fell Captain Hill's company was sent back Avith General George H. Thomas to meet Hood's desperate attempt to cnt Sherman's commnnications, and here again Company F was freqnently in the hottest of the fight, and suffered severely, especially at Nashville and Franklin. In fact it was reduced to a mere skeleton of its former self.

When Hood was overthrown the llltli Ohio was ordered to North Carolina to help Sherman crush Joseph E. Johnston, but the many months of constant exposure, nervous strain, privation, loss of rest, and long, hurried marches, had utterly broken the health of Captain Hill, and he was compelled to remain at Louisville and enter the hospital. It seemed that he was a physical wreck. After remaining in the hospital for some time, the board of physicians, without his kn<»wledge, recommended his honorable discharge on account of physical disability. This recommendation was complied with near the close of hostilities.

When able to do so, he returned to Ohio, and soon afterward removed to Heyworth, Illinois, with his father's family. There he and his father entered into the mercantile business, under the firm name of Hill & Son.

In 1866 he Avas married to Miss Laura Stewart, an estimable lady of Fairmont, West Virginia. He continued in business, with reasonable success, until 1871, when he felt that he could do better in a new and expanding country, and removed to Beatrice, Nebraska.

He there engaged in the nursery and stock-raising business for four years. When Beatrice was organized under the law as a city of the first class, in 1872, Captain Hill became a member of the first city council. In 1875 he was elected County Clerk of Gage county, and was twice afterward reelected. After concluding his third term, he engaged in the grocery business for three years, and then devoted his time to growing fine stock. During this period he was a member of the Board of Supervisors of the county for two years, and of the Board of Education of Beatrice for six years, his last term closing in the spring of 1885).

On Feljruary 1, 1887, Governor Thayer selected Captain Hill for his ])rivate secretary without giving the Captain any ])revious intimation of his intention. This position Captain Hill filled with eiliciency until August 1, 1888, wiien he resigned to become a candidate for

State Treasurer. He was nominated over twelve strong competitors, and Avas elected by nearly 28,000 majority, receiving the highest net majority of any candidate. He is now discharging the duties of tliis very responsible office with the same fidelity and ability which he has manifested in guarding the many duties that have been confided to his hands during the past twenty-seven years.

He recently removed his family to Lincoln. It consists of his wife and six children, three of whom are now young ladies. Their names are Gertrude, Carolina, Anna, Herbert Stewart, Hannah, Winifred, and John E. He has one brother younger than himself, ]Mr. Fred H. Hill, who resides at the old homestead at Hayworth, Illinois. He also has a sister, likewise younger than himself, who resides at Stuttgart, Arkansas. Her name is Mrs. Anna M. Lowe, and her son, Mr. Sam Lowe, is now an efficient clerk in the Governor's office.

Supreme Court Reporters

Hon. John Steen, State Commissioner of Public Lands and Buildings for Nebraska, was installed in that office on January 3, 1889. By virtue of his office he is a member of the State Board of Transportation, which possesses, to some extent, judicial authority, as well as administrative and executive powers, in the adjustment f)f the relations of the railroad interests of the State, amicably and equitably, Avith tho.se of the people. He is also a member of the State Board of Educational Ijands and Funds. He is Chairman of the State Board of Public Lands and Buildings. He is, in addition, one of the State Board of Pnrchases and Supplies, and he is also a member of the State Board of Pharmacy. These boards are all composed of the principal State officers, and Mr. Steen's work as a State official is of a difficult and highly resj)onsiblc character. He is regarded as a most efficient and prudent officer, well worthy the high trust confided to his charge by the people.

Mr. Steen has earned his present distinguished position by a life of hard work, patriotism, courage, and fidelity to duty and principle. A brief sketch of his personal history cannot fail to be of interest in a story of the history of Nebraska's capital, in which he is now a conspicuous figure.

He is a native of Norway. His father was Tron A. Steen, who was born near Christiana, Norway, January 17, 1804. His occupation was farming and manufacturing. Large importations of leaf tobacco were shipped into Christiana, and the father of Nebraska's Commissioner was engaged, in part, in making caddies in which to pack the manufactured tobacco. His father was always an anti-monarchist in political sentiment, and his sons inherited republican opinions from him.

Mr. Steeu's mother was Miss Ingeborg H. Torsdag before her marriage, and was born near Lillehammed, Norway, on January 31, 1804. Her marriage with Tron A. Steen took place near Christiana, on December 25, 1827. She was a woman of great energy and industry, and never tired in making home pleasant for her children and in aiding to develop in them the spirit of manly character. She was a woman of strong and noble characteristics, one of the women who are naturally the mothers of heroes.

John Steen was born on his father's farm, near Christiana, Norway, on October 21, 1841, and was the sixth of a family of eight sons. He spent his boyhood, while in Norway, in going to school, though he was taught industrious habits between terms.

In 1853 his father's family emigrated to the United States, and settled on a farm near Decorah, in AVinneshiek county, Iowa. Here Master Steen continued to go to school in winter, but applied himself to hard farm work in summer until 1861, taking the main control of affairs, as his father was getting old. The heavier part of the work fell to his lot, and thus it happened that he cut most of the grain on the farm with the old-fashioned cradle, which, in the hands of a powerful man, had a good deal of the "poetry of motion" about it, if some other man had to swing it. Mr. Steeu's muscles became compact, and his body well knit by the years of hard work he put in on the old home farm.

tain V. C. Tapper, a West Point oraduate. His regimental eonimander was Col. J. J. Woods, who had also had some training at West Point. Two of his brothers, Theodore and Henry, joined the same company, and they served throngh the war together. But all six of these patriotic brothers were in the Union Army. The three brothers in the 12th Iowa were in their country's service until January, 186G. The regiment went into a camp of instruction at Dubuque, Iowa, until November 28th, and thence proceeded to Benton Barracks, Missouri. It left there January 29, 1862, and proceeded to Smithland, Kentucky, and from that point joined General Grant's expedition against Forts Henry and Donelson. The 12th Iowa assisted to take Fort Henry, which surrendered February 6, 18(32. Then it proceeded to Fort Donelson, which it reached February 12th, and participated in the storming and capture of that stronghold as a part of Col. Cook's Brigade, of Gen. C. F. Smith's Division. Here it will be recalled that the 12th and 2d Iowa Avere on the extreme left, and that the 2d Iowa made a very gallant charge, and gained the first lodgment, and was immediately supported on its right by the 12th Iowa, which made almost as brilliant a dash as the 2d. This was on the 15th of February. Gen. Buckner surrendered the fort the next day, and the country was proud of Grant and the Iowa and Illinois troops, that had accomplished this brilliant achievement. Then the gallant 12th went to Pittsburg Landing, and assisted all through that terrible 0th of April, 18(32, to hold the center of the line, in company with the famous Iowa Brigade, composed of the 2d, 7th, 12th, and 14tli, Iowa regiments, under the command of General J. M. Tuttle, and in the division of General W. H. L. Wallace. After this brigade had held the spot now historically illustrious as the "Hornets' Nest," and after the rebel force had broken away the Union line both to the right and left, and had suri'ounded the 12th and 14th and attacked them from all sides, they surrendered, and became prisoners of war. General Tuttle had ordered the brigade to fall back, but the order failed to reach the 12th and 14th. Just at the moment of capture ]\Ir. Steen received a wound on his right side, under the right arm. The surrender took ])lace between five and six o'clock in the evening. The j>risoncrs were taken to Corinth, and for three days were without food. Of course the pangs of hunger became very keen with such a fast, after such a struggle as that of April (ith.

From Corinth the prisoners were taken to Memphis, Tennessee, where they remained a few clays, and M^ere thence forwarded to Mobile, Alabama. From that place they were removed to Cahaba, Alabama, where they were huddled together in an old tobacco warehouse, and there suffered their first severe trial of rebel prison life. Here the starving process was begun. After two weeks of this pen, the prisoners, of wdiom Mr. Steen was one, were taken to Macon, Georgia, where he endured the infamous mistreatment for which that pen is historical, for two or three months. Then he was paroled, and was taken to Benton Barracks, Missouri, where he did garrison duty, until exchanged in January, 1863. Then the men of his regiment were reorganized in time to join in Gen. Grant's magnificent campaign, whereby he swung below Vicksburg, and with a masterly movement, as brilliant as any executed by Napoleon, in sixty days whipped an army of over sixty thousand, in detail, with a force of but forty-five thousand. Mr. Steen made the quick march to Jackson, Miss., where Sherman and McPherson splendidly defeated Joseph E. Johnston, on the 14th of May, 1863. The 12th Iowa did not get to Champion Hill soon enough to help whip Pemberton, but, with Sherman, participated in the two gallant charges on the Avorks at Vicksburg, on the 18th and 22d of INIay. Mr. Steen's regiment was with Sherman's 15th corjjs, on the right. This regiment, with others, was assigned to watch Johnston at Black River Bridge, during part of the siege. When the surrender took place, on July 4,

1863, the 12th Iowa was of the troops which made a dash after Johnston, and beat him at Jackson and Brandon, and sent him whirling for safety beyond the Pearl river.

1864, and the men promptly enlisted for a second three years, and were then allowed to visit home on a veteran furlough. During the summer of 1861 the regiment was attached to the Sixteenth Army Corps, commanded by Major General A. J, Smith, and was engaged in movements against Forrest, in Tennessee and Mississippi. At the battle of Tupelo, where there was terrific fighting for a short time, he lost the best friend he ever had, Lieut. Augustus A. Burdick, who had been as faithful to him as a brother. This was the saddest event of his army life.

souri, and assisted to fight the battle of Pleasant Hill. Then his command hurried to Nashville, and arrived just in time to help General Thomas fight the magnificent battle of" Nashville, whereby Hood's armv was annihilated and Thomas's soldiers were covered with glory.

In the spring of 1865 the 12th Iowa was sent to Mobile, Alabama, where it aided to capture Spanish Fort, after a hot fight, on the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox. This ended the gallant battle career of John Steen and his company; but his regiment was held at Selma and Talladiga, Alabama, guarding the freedmen from the keen resentment of the Southern people until January, 18G6.

Mr. Steen returned home after the war, and the Steen family was justly honored because of its six gallant veterans. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits for a few months, and then was appointed deputy sheriff of Winneshiek county, Iowa, and held that position with credit until he removed to Nebraska, in 1869.

On coming to this State he settled in Omaha, and was soon afterward appointed registry and money-order clerk in the Omaha postoffice. From that position he was promoted to postal clerk on the Union Pacific railroad, through the influence of Senator William B. Allison, of Iowa. He continued in this service until the spring of 1871, when he was elected City Treasurer of Omaha. He served two terms of one year each with his usual faithfulness and skill.