Winfield Telephone

                                 Information Gathered From Early Newspapers.

                                                                    1878
Winfield Courier, April 18, 1878.
B. F. Baldwin and E. A. Clisbee had a home made telephone stretched from Frank’s store over to the Central Hotel last week. The phone was made by Clisbee and was a perfect success. Any person talking in one end in a common tone of voice would be distinctly heard all over the room at the other end.
                                                                    1880
Winfield Courier, August 12, 1880.
Pryor & Kinne have a telephone from their office to the courthouse.
Winfield Courier, August 19, 1880.
Pryor & Kinne have a telephone in good working order con­necting their office with E. S. Bedilion’s office at the courthouse. It saves them a great many journeys to the court­house to make inquiries about the public records. They are agents for the Telephone Company, and will soon be in a position to put up more telephones.
Arkansas City Traveler, August 11, 1880.
Winfield now has a telephone from E. P. Kinne’s office to the courthouse. Several others are in contemplation.
                                                                    1881
Winfield Courier, April 7, 1881.
122,692 telephones are now in use of the Bell pattern.
Arkansas City Traveler, September 28, 1881.
Most of the fair sex in our city are decidedly against the introduction of the telephone. They don’t like to have a fellow whispering in their ear with his mouth like Sheridan at Winchester, twenty miles away.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 21, 1881.
A proposition has been received from the Bell Telephone company to put up their wires and instruments in Winfield, if twenty-five subscribers can be secured. The prices at which instruments are put is $50 per year for one in a business house, and $30 in a private house. Wichita has an excellent exchange, and the people are delighted with it. It is a splendid thing, and if we once get it people would not part with the privilege for twice fifty dollars a year. Let every businessman take hold of this idea, hire an instrument, and in a few weeks we can sit in our offices and transact business, etc. Courier.
Cowley County Courant, December 22, 1881.
We sincerely hope our citizens will take hold of the tele­phone proposition, which we place before them today. If any particulars are required further than we give, Mr. Whitney or Mr. Kretsinger will give them. Fourteen have already subscribed and only eleven more are needed to secure the placing of the instru­ments. Wichita has placed sixty-three telephones and the company are still at work. The central office here would be at the Brettun House.
                                                                    1882
The Winfield Courier, January 5, 1882.

Is there not enterprise enough in Winfield to secure a telephone exchange? Or must we come tailing up after Arkansas City, Wellington, and New Salem have succeeded?
Cowley County Courant, March 2, 1882.
We understand the telephone company have the greater portion of their material in the city, and that the instruments and wires will be put up as soon as possible. Those who fail to have a telephone of their own will be disconnected with their neighbors, as it were, or so to speak.
Cowley County Courant, March 2, 1882.
The wire and other fixtures of the telephone system have arrived and the work of putting up the wires and placing the instruments will be commenced immediately. The company was fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Fred Whitney to conduct their business here. Mr. Whitney is one of the best of fellows, gentlemanly and obliging.
Winfield Courier, March 9, 1882.
The Telephone company is putting up the poles and stringing the wires for the twenty-five already subscribed. Only four connections are made now as the instruments have not arrived.
Cowley County Courant, March 9, 1882.
We asked A. H. Doane by telephone what was going on down that way today and received the startling reply that it was snowing. Strange what a difference a little distance makes in the weather.
Cowley County Courant, March 9, 1882.
The delay in putting up the telephone exchange in this city is occasioned by the failure in the arrival of the instruments. A number of wires are already up awaiting the instruments, which are looked for by every train. So far there are only four connec­tions outside of the central office: THE COURANT office, the two express offices, and A. H. Doane & Co.’s coal office.
Cowley County Courant, March 9, 1882.
The COURANT office was the first to have the telephone. Be careful what you say now or we will have you on the hook.
Cowley County Courant, March 9, 1882.
We get a report by telephone that Hendricks & Wilson will soon be in the room now occupied by Shrieves & Powers, and that the latter firm is contemplating going out of business.
Cowley County Courant, March 16, 1882.
The delay in putting up the telephone exchange in this city is occasioned by the failure in the arrival of the instruments. A number of wires are already up awaiting the instruments which are looked for by every train. So far there are only four connections outside of the central office: THE COURANT office, the two express offices, and A. H. Doane & Co.’s coal office.
Cowley County Courant, March 23, 1882.
Tally one for the telephone. It is being extended into the country. Dr. Davis is building a house on his farm on the mound east of town and will soon move out. He will keep his office in town and have telephonic connection with his farm house.

Cowley County Courant, March 23, 1882.
The telephone instruments, wires, poles, and everything necessary to complete the exchange in the city, have arrived and the balance of the instruments will be put up and in working order in two or three days. It is a nice and convenient improve­ment for the city.
Cowley County Courant, March 23, 1882.
Frank Manny has the telephone in good working shape. The more we see of this instrument the greater becomes our admiration for this wonderful development of human genius.
Winfield Courier, March 23, 1882.
The telephones are rapidly extending over the city, and from present indications it will not be long until every business house and many dwellings will be furnished with one.
Winfield Courier, March 23, 1882.
The following places in the City of Winfield are now connected by telephone, and new additions are made daily.
 3. M. L. Read’s residence.
 8. Wilson’s transfer office.
10. Adams’ express office.
11. Wells Fargo express office.
12. A. H. Doane & Co.’s coal office.
13. The Courant office.
14. Carruthers’ office.
15. A. T. Spotswood & Co., grocery.
16. Bliss & Wood, city mills.
17. M. L. Read’s bank.
18. The COURIER office.
19. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe depot.
20. Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern depot.
21. Frank Manny’s residence.
22. The Brettun.
23. Steinberger’s residence.
24. J. P. Baden’s general mercantile store.
Winfield Courier, March 30, 1882.
The telephone is a great convenience, but from a careful perusal of the iron-clad contracts the telephone company furnishes, it looks all one-sided. It looks to us as if the fellow who pays his money is the one who should demand stipulations.
Winfield Courier, March 30, 1882.
Frank Osborn, of Howard, was in the city Monday, as we learn by telephone.
Cowley County Courant, April 6, 1882.
We learn by telephone that our religious friend, Deacon Smith, now orders his supplies by telephone, since the central office is empowered with authority to receive telegraph messages. He usually takes advantage of the reduction made on night dispatches.
Cowley County Courant, April 6, 1882.

Fred Whitney, the manager of the telephone exchange here, says there is a fair prospect of connecting Wichita and Winfield by telephone, provided the two towns desire it and will lend their united assistance. We shall be able to give the conditions by which the connection can be made in a few days.
Cowley County Courant, April 6, 1882.
All persons who are not subscribers to the telephone ex­change and have no instrument of their own, are prohibited from sending messages of any kind over the telephone line, unless they call at the central office, where they can send all such messages the same as from a telegraph office. FRED P. WHITNEY, Manager.
Cowley County Courant, April 6, 1882.
Miss May Jackson, of this city, who so efficiently and patiently attends to the telephone central office, received the sad intelligence Friday of the death of her grandfather, Mr. Geo. Shupe, of Mt. Pulaski, Illinois. The old gentleman was nearly eighty years old.
Winfield Courier, April 6, 1882.
We are indebted to Miss May Jackson, the young lady who so efficiently manages the central telephone office, for favors this week in gathering news for our columns.
[WINFIELD TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS.]
Cowley County Courant, April 6, 1882.
                                             Winfield Telephone Connections
FOR SOME REASON THEY SKIP #1 AND #2...AND NO. 6..????
 3. M. L. Read’s residence.
 4. Fred. Whitney’s residence.
 5. M. L. Robinson’s residence.
 7. Hackney & McDonald’s law office.
 8. Wilson’s transfer office.
 9. The Court House.
10. Adam’s express office.
11. Wells, Fargo express office.
12. A. H. Doane & Co.’s coal office.
13,  THE COURANT office.
14. Carruthers’ residence.
15. A. T. Spotswood & Co., grocery.
16. Bliss & Wood, city mills.
17. M. L. Read’s bank.
18. The Courier office.
19. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe depot.
20. K. C., L. & S. depot.
21. Frank Manny’s residence.
22. The Brettun.
23. Steinberger’s residence.
24. J. P. Baden’s general store.
25. Curns & Manser’s loan office.
Cowley County Courant, April 6, 1882. 

A stock company is being organized at Harper, Anthony, and Medicine Lodge, for the purpose of connecting these three places by telephone. In our judgment it will be but a short time before all the principal villages of Southern Kansas will be thus connected.
Cowley County Courant, April 13, 1882.
The office hours of the telephone central office on Sunday hereafter will be from 8:30 to 10 in the forenoon and from 1 to 6 in the afternoon. Office hours on week days will be from 7 A. M. to 10 P. M.
Cowley County Courant, April 13, 1882.
Winfield has about thirty telephones “in active operation.” Winfield is more like a city than any other town in Southern Kansas. Fredonia Citizen.
Cowley County Courant, April 13, 1882.
The school boys’ kites are already beginning to ornament the telephone wires.
Cowley County Courant, April 20, 1882.
Dr. Davis has moved his office into the room upstairs, just south of the telephone central office, in Myton’s new building.
Cowley County Courant, April 20, 1882.
J. P. Baden has had a telephone instrument put up at his headquarters. J. P. can now be at both of his stores at all times. Who wouldn’t have a telephone and with the telephones stand.
Winfield Courier, April 20, 1882.
Baden has his two stores connected by telephone now, and he can transact business at both places from his desk in the north store.
Winfield Courier, April 27, 1882.
The Winfield Bank has put in a telephone and can now have connection with the outer world.
Winfield Courier, April 27, 1882.
Mr. Davis has removed his family to the farm east of town and has had a telephone put up between the City and the house. Persons can call him from any telephone.
Cowley County Courant, April 27, 1882.
Dr. Davis is now number two on the telephone list, having had an instrument put up at his residence this morning.
Winfield Courier, April 27, 1882.
Some talk is being indulged in of securing telephone connections between Winfield and Geuda Springs. It would be an excellent thing for the Springs, as it would give the people direct telegraphic connections. Let us have the telephone.
News by telephone and word of mouth...
Cowley County Courant, April 27, 1882.
                                                            THE PISTOL!
          Lamentable Accident—How John Wesley Snyder Met His Death Saturday.
          On the Corner of Main Street and Ninth Avenue—Details of the Accident.
                                                                      ---
One of the saddest accidents ever recorded in the history of Winfield was the sudden and accidental shooting of one of Cowley County’s most respected farmers Saturday, about fifteen minutes before twelve o’clock.

The streets were crowded with people, and a notion wagon man from Topeka, was stationed just south of Harter’s drug store, selling his goods to all who wished to buy.
Mr. Snyder, an old resident of the county, who has lived on a farm about seven miles south of Winfield, on the Walnut, for the past eight or nine years, came to town this morning with a load of millet seed, which he expected to sell. He brought with him his wife and their baby, a little boy about sixteen months old.
Upon arriving in the city he walked down to the corners, as the crossing of Main street and Ninth avenue are termed, and was standing just at the rear of the notion wagon, listening no doubt to the man’s speech to the crowd. The notion man stood in his wagon in his shirt sleeves, his coat lying in the front end of the wagon upon a box, which it is supposed contained articles of some kind for sale. He went to this box, apparently, to take something out, and taking his coat in his hand returned to the rear end of the wagon and laid it down upon another box, when his pistol fell out of one of the coat pockets and to the ground, striking the hind wheel of the wagon as it fell, and was dis­charged.
There were perhaps three hundred people standing within range of the pistol, and all looked surprisedly around to see who, if anyone, was shot, but for a minute or more there seemed to have been no one hurt, when Mr. Snyder clasped his hands upon his breast and started around the wagon, staggering as though he was going to fall. This was the first sign of anyone being hurt, and those standing near, seeing the old gentleman reel, caught him, just as he was in the act of falling. He was lowered to the ground, the blood gushed from his nostrils and mouth, and inside of three minutes he breathed his last. On an examination it was found that the ball had entered his body near the point of his breast bone, and supposed to have passed upward through the heart. For minutes the surging crowd was uncontrollable, and the news flew through the city by telephone and word of mouth, and horror-stricken citizens could be seen coming and going in every direc­tion.
We can scarcely imagine anything which would so thoroughly shock our citizens and wring from one and all such general expressions of sympathy as did this shocking accident. To make the scene all the more effecting, just as the unfortunate man was breathing his last, there came through the crowd a woman—yes, a woman, bearing in her arms a child. The crowd, which had stood firm and dense, anxiously trying to get a glimpse of the dying man, parted as she approached, and she passed through to where he lay. It was his wife, and the child in her arms was his baby, its little tongue, not yet able to speak, lisped the word “papa.” This was a moment to try the strength of one’s nervous system. Brave men bowed in silence, and for a few moments the sight which their eyes fell upon was one long to be remembered.
That horror-stricken wife, with her child on one arm, knelt down in the blood and dust by the side of him to whom she has for years looked to for support and counsel, and gently raising his head, held it and respectfully kissed the mouth from which the blood was gushing. The poor woman was raised by strange hands and born away, and the crying child was taken charge of by a kind lady who was standing by.

The Coroner was there by this time, a jury summoned, and the body born to the office of H. G. Fuller, over the Post Office where an inquest was held. After hearing the evidence of a number of gentlemen who were present, the jury returned a verdict to the effect that Mr. Snyder came to his death from an acciden­tal shot fired from a pistol belonging to W. H. Wood, a traveling salesman. Mr. Wood was placed under arrest, but after the verdict of the jury was rendered, he was discharged.
It is a sad affair and has cast a gloom over the entire city and community.
John Wesley Snyder was born in Franklin County, Indiana, in December, 1835, and was at the time of his death 46 years old. He was the father of eleven children, six of whom are living and five dead. He has been a member of the Christian church for twelve years. He came to Cowley County about eight or nine years ago, and has ever been respected by all who knew him.
Cowley County Courant, May 4, 1882.
Some talk is being indulged in of securing telephone connec­tions between Winfield and Geuda Springs. It would be an excel­lent thing for the Springs, as it would give the people direct telephonic connections. Let us have the telephone.
Cowley County Courant, May 11, 1882.
Paul W. Bossart, of Kansas City, Superintendent of the Merchants Telephone and Telegraph Company, has been in our city for a day or so looking after the interests of the company here. Paul is a capital young fellow and makes friends wherever he goes. He says his folks will be pleased to connect Winfield by telephone with Arkansas City, Geuda Springs, or any other neigh­boring point, if our people will lend the necessary assistance.
[WINFIELD TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS.]
Cowley County Courant, May 11, 1882.
NOTE: THIS TIME THEY DID NOT SHOW ANYTHING FOR ITEM #1.
 2. Dr. Davis’ residence.
 3. M. L. Read’s residence.
 4. Fred. Whitney’s residence.
 5. M. L. Robinson’s residence.
 6. Winfield Bank.
 7. Hackney & McDonald’s law office.
 8. Wilson’s transfer office.
 9. The Court House.
10. Adam’s express office.
11. Wells, Fargo express office.
12. A. H. Doane & Co.’s coal office.
13. THE COURANT office.
14. Carruthers’ residence.
15. A. T. Spotswood & Co., grocery.
16. Bliss & Wood, city mills.
17. M. L. Read’s bank.
18. The Courier office.
19. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe depot.
20. K. C., L. & S. depot.
21. Frank Manny’s residence.
22. The Brettun.
23. Steinberger’s residence.

24. J. P. Baden’s general store.
25. J. P. Baden’s Headquarters.
26. Curns & Manser’s loan office.
      Cowley County Courant, May 18, 1882.
Wellington is to have a telephone system at once, as the contract is signed and the work is under way. As soon as the system is completed, Wichita, Winfield, and Wellington will be united.
Cowley County Courant, June 22, 1882.
DIED. Charley, a fourteen year old boy of C. D. Austin’s, the painter, was drowned in the Walnut between Bliss & Wood’s mill and the railroad bridge about half past three Tuesday, while in bathing. As is the daily custom of perhaps a hundred Winfield boys, Charley and Sam Aldridge, who carries THE DAILY COURANT, went in swimming just across from the mill, and the two swam over to the south side floating down with the current, perhaps a hundred yards. When about forty feet from shore, Charley called to Sam to come and take him out. Sam hurried to him, and was pulled under the water; then drifting into a tree top, Sam caught hold of the brush, took a stick from a drift and held it out, and Charley took hold of it, but he soon began to sink again and as he went down let go of the stick and Sam was left hanging to the tree top. Charley came up once or twice after that but he had been carried so far down the stream that Sam could not get to him. The sad news was at once telephoned uptown from the mill, and the father and brother of the poor boy notified of their loss, and in less than half an hour the streets were deserted, and nearly everyone was on the banks of the river looking upon the black, muddy waters beneath which the dead boy’s body was still undiscovered. Boats, rakes, and nets were brought into use, and up to this writing dozens of men are searching for the lost boy. The horror stricken father and older brother are standing there, comforted only by the sympathy of hundreds of anxious friends. The mother of the boy, poor soul, we understand is in the country, and has not yet learned of the sad intelli­gence which is awaiting her. Words fail to express the sorrow we feel for her.
LATER: We learn by telephone that the body has been found. Frank Finch discovered the body about thirty feet below where it was seen sinking the last time.
Cowley County Courant, June 29, 1882.
Allen Johnson is the latest to put in a telephonic connec­tion. He has now an instrument at his office on main street.
[TELEPHONES.]
Winfield Courier, November 9, 1882.
The following is a list of telephones in use in this city: 1. Allen Johnson. 2. Dr. Davis. 3. M. L. Read’s Residence. 4. Whiting Meat Market. 5. M. L. Robinson’s Residence.12. Winfield Bank. 13. J. W. McDonald’s Office. 21. Court House. 22. Transfer Office. 31. Adams Express. 32. Wells, Fargo Express. 33, A. H. Doane & Co. 34. Telegram Office. 36. A. T. Spotswood. 37. City Mills. 38. Read’s Bank. 41. COURIER Office. 42. A., T. & S. F. Depot. 43. K. C., L. & S. K. 44. Manny Residence. 45. Brettun House. 47. Millington Residence. 46. J. P. Baden, 1. 46. J. P. Baden, 2. 48. Curns & Manser. 49. Miller, Dix & Co.
Winfield Courier, December 21, 1882.
                                                           Well Advertised.

We received a telephone message from J. P. Baden Tuesday to report at his store immediately. Upon arriving there we found the proprietor in a high state of excitement. He said, “I tell you the COURIER is the best advertising medium in the state of Kansas, and if you don’t believe it, go out to my warehouses and see what those poultry advertisements have brought in!” We went out and found the warehouse alleys and adjacent lots covered with poultry, while a large force of men were unloading wagons, packing dressed turkeys, labeling baskets and boxes of nude fowls, while a lot of fellows were stringing live turkeys up by the legs and snatching the feathers off in great handfuls. A turkey was picked by one of the expert feather grabbers in less than a minute. After looking over the very animated scene for a few minutes, we reluctantly concluded with the proprietor that his advertising in the COURIER did count for something and that the people certainly read them and profited thereby.
Mr. Baden has frequently used the columns of this paper in building up his immense business, and he seems to be most highly pleased with the result. We certainly are satisfied.
                                                                    1883
Winfield Courier, March 15, 1883.
                                                    Winfield Telephone Office.
 1. Allen Johnson.
 2. Dr. Davis’ residence.
 3. M. L. Read’s.
 4. Whiting’s meat market.
32. Transfer office.
33. A. H. Doane & Co.
34. Telegram office.
35. Dr. C. C. Green’s office.
36. A. T. Spotswood.
37. City mills.
38. Read’s bank.
41. Courier office.
42. A. T. & S. F. Depot.
43. K. C. L. & S. Depot.
44. Manny’s residence.
45. Brettun House.
46. J. P. Baden’s store No. 1.
46. J. P. Baden’s store No. 2.
47. Millington’s residence.
48. Curns & Manser.
49. Miller Dicks & Co.’s meat market.
50. D. Berkey’s residence.
Winfield Courier, March 22, 1883.
The telephone now has thirty-five connections, about ten new ones having been put in during the week.
Winfield Courier, March 22, 1883.

Mr. P. W. Bossart, Superintendent of the Kansas and Missouri Telephone Company, was in the city Saturday and made a proposition whereby this place and Arkansas City could be connected by telephone. He proposes to build the line provided five hundred dollars worth of conversation tickets are subscribed. These tickets cost fifteen cents each and are good for five minutes talk over the line. Three hundred dollars have been subscribed at Arkansas City, leaving two hundred to be taken here. A large part of the necessary amount is already taken and the line will be a good thing for both towns. Mr. Bossart also intends connecting us with Wellington, Caldwell, Hunnewell, and Wichita in the near future.
Winfield Courier, March 29, 1883.
The subscription for the Arkansas City telephone line was only half secured—but one hundred of the two hundred dollars being subscribed. Somehow or other our people evinced but little interest in it. The full amount asked has been made up at Arkansas City and the managers are only waiting our action before putting in the line. We should like to see the balance subscribed.
Winfield Courier, April 12, 1883.
Work on the telephone line from Winfield to Arkansas City and Geuda Springs will begin at once, and a carload of poles is now on the road.
Excerpts...
Winfield Courier, April 26, 1883.
                                                       New Salem Pencilings.
Telegraph poles are being put up and Salem will soon have a telegram office.
Oh for telephones to those that are too far away to bid us be of good cheer, or check our mirth if we need it.
Winfield Courier, May 3, 1883.
The telephone line to Arkansas City is being put in, and communication will be established before a week.
Winfield Courier, May 10, 1883.
Senator Hackney has had a telephone line run out to his residence in Walnut Township.
Winfield Courier, May 31, 1883.
                                                           A Fatal Accident.
DIED. A young man by the name of Thomas Watson fell from a telephone pole on the corner of Main and Blandin streets Monday morning, breaking a leg and arm, and sustaining injuries from which he died. Monday morning he was stringing wire for the telephone line from here to Arkansas City, and where the wire made a turn, climbed the pole from the inside to adjust it over the insulator. While he was at work the bar which held the insulator broke and the wire sprang off, catching him on the breast and throwing him off backward. He was a young man, came from Indiana, and had been in the employ of the company about three months.
Winfield Courier, May 31, 1883.
                                                            Udall Utterings.
We have a number of places connected by telephone.
Arkansas City Traveler, June 6, 1883.
Last Saturday saw our city and Winfield in a position to talk a la telephone.

Winfield Courier, June 7, 1883.
The telephone line to Arkansas City is completed and running and Tuesday morning we had a chat over the wire with a gentleman at that end. The talking was if anything more distinct than here in town.
Winfield Courier, June 7, 1883.
A span of the Arkansas City Bridge was broken down by a herd of cattle Thursday. An attachment was got out and the owner of the cattle made to pay for the breakage. The law business was done from the county attorney’s office at this place by telephone.
Winfield Courier, June 14, 1883.
Dr. Wright has had telephones put in his office and residence and he can now “hello” all over town without leaving his house or office. The telephone is a grand invention for physicians.
Winfield Courier, June 14, 1883.
Tuesday the authorities at Arkansas City telephoned Sheriff Gary that two horses had been stolen there the night before, with their description. Ed. Nicholson happened to be in town and saw the description and on the way home came upon the thieves on Badger Creek. He borrowed an old rusty shot gun, and in company with Tom Wright and several of the neighbors, surrounded the thieves in a thicket, where Ed. brought them up at the muzzle of his ancient gun. They were brought to town and gave their names as Cooper and Carter, residents of Arkansas City. One of them claims to be a brother of F. M. Cooper, formerly of this place. He is about thirty years old. They tell several stories in explanation of how they came into possession of the horses, but deny having stolen them.
Arkansas City Traveler, June 27, 1883.
                                                                Drowned.
We learn by telephone that two boys, sons of S. Gilbert and T. B. Myers, of Winfield, were drowned in the Walnut River while bathing yesterday below the railroad bridge. We could not learn further particulars before going to press.
Excerpt...
Winfield Courier, June 28, 1883.
                               FROM NORTHWEST CRESWELL. June 21, 1883.
The telephone is stretched through our midst to Geuda. It adds much to the improvement of the country.
Winfield Courier, June 28, 1883.
The telephone is now completed to Geuda Springs and Wednesday morning we had the pleasure of carrying on a conversation with Hon. C. R. Mitchell, at the Springs, from our office by way of Arkansas City. The tone is clear and distinct, and persons can be recognized by their voices.
Arkansas City Traveler, August 15, 1883.
That young man in the east part of the city who enjoys his leisure moments with the telephone would do well to take warning from last Wednesday evening’s experience and be certain he is talking to the central office at Arkansas City and not at Winfield before he expresses his opinions so forcibly. It probably does not interest Mrs. Bishop.
Winfield Courier, August 16, 1883.

Cowboys took the town of Hunnewell Monday, and the citizens were compelled to telephone to Wellington for assistance. A train was placed at the disposal of Sheriff Thralls and posse, when they rolled into Hunnewell without whistling, surrounded the town, and arrested eight cowboys without firing a shot. The desperadoes now languish in jail at Wellington.
Winfield Courier, October 18, 1883.
                                                    GARY’S GALLANTRY.
When Corder and Cooper stole Harris and Freel’s horses, they telephoned up from Arkansas City to Gary that fact, and that the thieves were going northeast. Gary went to Ed Nicholson and said: “Ed, some parties have stolen two horses at Arkansas City and are going northeast; if you see them as you go home, I wish you would catch them.” He then went up the street and the last seen of him he was trying to explain his Iowa record. Ed got on his horse and started home on Grouse Creek, and on the way caught the horse thieves, and they were taken by our gallant sheriff last week to the penitentiary.
Winfield Courier, November 29, 1883.
A. H. Doane & Co. have erected a mammoth coal house on the Santa Fe tracks. It has a capacity for forty cars, is furnished with scales, and connected by telephone with their uptown office. They are fixing for a big coal business this winter.
                                                                    1884
[STONE QUARRY.]
Winfield Courier, January 31, 1884.
                                                                 STONE.
               A Company Formed to Develop the Future Leading Industry of this Section.
                                 A New Quarry Opened and Switches Being Put In.
               The Facilities of the Company Unlimited to Supply Foreign or Local Orders.
It has always been the thought of good businessmen in Winfield, from the time the town started, that one of the most certain and enduring elements in the future wealth of the city, was the seams and layers of pure magnesian limestone that crops out at the surface at such convenient distances from the future great city of the Walnut Valley. Up to the time of the completion of the first railroad, the quarries were worked for local purposes. The stone worked easily and could be put into foundations and good buildings cheaper than any other material. About this time our magnificent system of sidewalks was commenced, which has made the city celebrated. Flagging twenty feet square, and the surface as smooth as if it were dressed, was taken out, and published the fame of the Winfield quarries.
When the railroads were completed, it was naturally anticipated that switches would be put in by the railroads and that capital and energy would at once combine to develop this important industry; but months lengthened into years, and while Wichita, Wellington, and other cities wanted the stone, the demand could not be supplied, and they were obliged to go to Strong City and other places for both cut and dimension stone. Without railroad facilities, it was simply impossible, with the best endeavors on the part of the quarrymen doing business here, to supply the ever-increasing demand.

About two months ago an advertisement was inserted in the Kansas City Journal, offering to sell the brick and tile works located here, and in answer to that Mr. J. E. Parkins, of Kansas City, came here with a view of buying the yard. From the very first, his attention was attracted to the character of our stone. He talked with businessmen and showed that he had upwards of thirty years’ experience in quarrying, and in the erection of government buildings and railroad work, and that our stone was as good as any in the world; and he stated that with the completion of his contract of the Kansas City post office, he would open up these quarries. A company was at once organized and the Land quarry was purchased. The tract embraces ten acres, and is east of the Southern Kansas railroad, and about a half mile north of the cemetery.
A large force of hands are now at work grading for a switch, and room will be provided for twenty cars. The foreign output for this reason will be about ten car loads a day, and the necessary force to supply that demand will be at work during the coming month.
The brick and the works near the Santa Fe depot now form a part of the Winfield Stone, Brick & Tile Company’s property, and the large engine now there will do the work of sawing, cutting, and turning the stone, in addition to its former duties. The stone that is to be dressed will be loaded in cars at the quarry and carried to the town yard, where skilled workmen put it into all the various shapes in which cut stone is used. It will be worked into many forms never before attempted here.
Additional machinery for making brick will be put in and a quality of brick, both pressed and common, will be furnished that is second to none in the market.
A storehouse for the sale of lime, cement, and kindred products, will be at once erected.      The quarry and the yard will be connected by telephone.
The officers of the company are as follows: M. L. Read, President; J. E. Conklin, Secretary; M. L. Robinson, Treasurer; and J. E. Parkins, General Superintendent. About fifty men will be employed, and everything will be done that knowledge united with skill, energy with well-directed impulse, and capital without limit can do to make the stone interest the leading manufacturing industry of Cowley County. In this work we are all interested, and the COURIER wishes the Winfield Stone, Brick & Tile Company an unlimited amount of success.
Winfield Courier, February 21, 1884.
                                                 OUR CORRESPONDENTS.
                                             SOUTH EAST COWLEY ITEMS.
The new telephone line is not a decided success, they could not make the fruit cans tell worth a cent, they then got some instruments which they thought would work all right, but lo and behold the sleet came and stuck fast to the wire and it fell. So when T. H. started over to order J. W. to breakfast, as he was coming around the curve, he collided with his brother, who was coming down the line under a full head of steam, and thus the breaking of the wires of the telephone caused an accident on the narrow gauge.
Winfield Courier, March 13, 1884.

There should be telephone connections between Winfield and Wellington via Oxford. This would connect Geuda Springs, Arkansas City, Winfield, Oxford, Wellington, Hunnewell, South Haven, and Caldwell by telephone. Who will take the lead in this enterprise? It would be a big advantage to every businessman in Oxford, as well as those of Wellington and Winfield. We should think that the necessary amount could easily be raised in the three towns with a very light assessment on each. Oxford Register.
Winfield Courier, March 27, 1884.
David C. Beach now has a telephone line to his suburban residence, near the mounds.
Winfield Courier, April 10, 1884.
                                                   REFORMS DEMANDED.
                                                         Our Political Creed.
There is crying need of many reforms both in our state and national legislation. These are:
1st. Either the entire abolition of the jury system or a radical re-construction so that none but intelligent, honest, patriotic men can be allowed to sit as jurymen. The present jury system has outlived its usefulness, is behind the age, and its only use is to enable guilty persons to escape conviction by the ignorance, vice, or corruption of jurymen making acquittals or hung juries. Under it the man who reads and is posted in the news of the day is ruled off because he has formed and expressed opinions and he who reads nothing and knows nothing of what is going on, or will swear to that effect, is a competent juryman. It is a well known fact that the ignorant man forms opinions on slight evidence and prejudice, and when he has formed an opinion, it is almost impossible to change it by any amount of evidence to the contrary; even when he does not know he has formed an opinion, or if he does know it, will swear that he has not. On the contrary the man who reads all the news, thinks and reflects; knows when he has formed opinions and knows, too, that those opinions are formed on doubtful information, which is often placed in a new light by subsequent information. He therefore holds these opinions lightly and yields them readily on the presentation of evidence. He is always safe if he is honest.
If the jury system is to be continued, it must be changed so that two thirds of the jury can render a valid verdict; so that no ignorant or vicious men can sit as juryman; so that the formation and expression of an opinion on the merits of the case is no ground for exclusion; and so that the accused shall not have a second jury trial in another court after one jury has pronounced him guilty.
2nd. The grand jury system has not outlived its usefulness and should not be left to the tender footed discretion of county commissioners, but should be made obligatory in each organized county at least once a year and in populous counties, twice a year.
The only arguments against a grand jury are simply those used by law breakers; such as, “inquisition,” “personal liberty,” etc. Keepers of gambling houses, saloons, and other places where laws are violated as a business and other violators of law are the only persons who are troubled about personal liberty and inquisitions. No honest, law abiding person is worried about the annoyance or violation of his liberties by grand juries, but the fear of this inquisition would prevent the commission of an immense amount of crimes and misdemeanors.

3rd. The pardoning power and discretion of the governor should be very much restricted. Hundred of criminals of all grades are yearly turned loose and go immediately to preying upon society again in the old way, simply because the offenders have friends, who with petitions, influence, specious arguments, and false statements, so work upon the mind of a tender hearted governor that he issues pardons by the wholesale. No pardon should ever be granted without a trial in court in which the prosecuting attorney should appear against the prisoner with such evidence and arguments as he can command bearing against the pardon.
The law should fix the penalty for crime within such reasonable bounds that the least practicable amount of discretion should be left to the judge in passing the sentence, which should be fully executed with no hope of pardon except in very extraordinary cases.
If it is the policy of the state that there shall be no capital punishment, let the law say so and not skulk in a cowardly manner behind the executive, as is the case in Kansas. The law punishes certain crimes with death but defeats itself by leaving it to the governor to issue the death warrant at his discretion, and no governor will over exercise that discretion. Whatever the intentions of the law, let it be clearly stated, and let it provide for its own execution.
4th. The law requires the valuation of all property for taxation at actual value and is a just law, yet it has become the custom for each assessor or member of a board of equalization, to make a law to suit himself and the consequence is that property is assessed all the way from actual value down to less than one tenth of actual value, thus inflicting the grossest injustice by enabling large amounts of property to escape taxation altogether and taxing some ten times as much as others on same actual values.
A law must be enacted severely punishing assessors and members of boards of equalization for neglect of duty under the law, and for knowingly making assessment returns containing valuations different from the actual value of the property, and providing that when such valuations are frequent in an assessment roll, it shall be sufficient evidence of the guilt of the assessor.
5th. Another gross injustice should be remedied. A county or township issues bonds to aid in the construction of a railroad and the property owners in each and every part of that county or township are taxed to pay the interest and principal of these bonds. The railroad also is taxed for all purposes but only the school districts through which the road actually passes get any benefit of the school taxes including the schoolhouse building tax. If county bonds are issued only those townships through which the road actually runs can be benefitted by township taxes on railroad property. In the nature of the case the townships and school districts through which the road passes gain the chief benefit of the road in the nearness to the accommodations of the road, in the acquisition of new property other than the road which the building of the road brings, and in the enhanced value of property caused by the road, but so far as taxation of the railroad is concerned, all who are taxed on account of the road should be and can be equally benefitted by the taxes paid by the railroad.
A law should be immediately enacted taxing railroads for school purposes and township purposes at the average rates of all the school districts and townships which contribute to the bond tax and distribute these taxes pro rata to all the districts and townships. Even if all such taxes were applied to the payment of interest and to the creation of a sinking fund for the bonds until both interest and principal were fully paid or provided for, it would be much nearer justice than at present but would fall far short of complete justice.
It is claimed that such a law would be unconstitutional. We do not believe it. If it is unconstitutional to be just, it is time that the constitution was amended so as to make it a just constitution and such amendment should be submitted by the next legislature.

6th. The railroad and other corporations discriminate in favor of home persons, cities, and points, and against many others. They also charge extortionate rates which enable them to declare large dividends on stocks which are nine tenths water. The law of last session has failed thus far to remedy these evils.
The commissioners have collected a great amount of information and have moved in the right direction, but have been balked in one way and another and but little has been accomplished. It now appears that there is but one way to effect this reform and that is by a law fixing a scale of maximum rates for each railroad. The success of the struggle of the Santa Fe against the decision of the commissioners shows that nothing short of maximum rate legislation will do the business.
7th. It is likewise necessary that congress should enter into this reformation by enacting a law to regulate interstate commerce, something like the Reagan bill, but more complete and radical. It is the people who pay in fares and freights for building the roads and running them, and it is the people who are entitled to the profits of the roads, fairly and justly distributed, by reducing the scales of fares and freights to such figures as without discrimination, will pay running expenses, keep the roads in repair, and pay a fair interest on the actual cost of the road.
8th. The telegraph service is in the hands of a conscienceless monopoly which charges three to ten times as much for the general services as it costs, and maintains its monopoly by free message tickets issued at wholesale and by an unblushing system of bribery, thus unjustly taxing the people more than ten million dollars a year. It is as though the whole postal system was put into the hands of a monopoly, which should charge ten cents to a dollar each for the transmission of half ounce letters.
Congress should enact a law at once making as complete control of the telegraph business as it does of the postal business, and the telephone business should be included.
9th. Our patent laws need radical reformation. Some person discovers an improvement in some machinery and adopts it for his own use but does not think it worthwhile to apply for a patent. Others see it work and adopt it in their own business. Finally some sharper sees it and goes to work getting up a model disguising the principal feature as much as he can by other novelties and applies for and obtains a patent. The first thing the real discoverer knows, he finds himself in trouble for infringing on the sharper’s patent. He and all those who were using the improvement before it was patented, pay the blackmail money to keep out of trouble and a lawsuit. Some great corporate monopoly buys the patent of the sharper and goes into business. It proves to be a big thing and the monopoly makes other and untold millions out of the people, not a cent of which is founded on right or justice. There are many ways in which the patent laws work unjustly not for the benefit of the inventors, but for the benefit of speculators and monopolists.
The necessary remedy is, the limitation by law of the time a patent can run, to not exceeding seven years and then no extensions should be granted. If a discovery or invention will not give the inventor a grand and ample reward for his skill and study in seven years, it is not worth patenting, and if it will, that should be sufficient; and after seven years, the public should have the benefit of it without having to pay ten times as much for it as it costs.

10th. It is unjust to allow persons and corporations to monopolize large quantities of land for speculation or any other purposes. All public lands should be sacredly reserved for settlers who want only comparatively small tracts and who will improve and use them.
Laws should be enacted enabling settlers to obtain in tracts not exceeding 160 acres any lands not improved and in use, by getting such land appraised and tendering to the owner, whoever he is, the appraised value or by depositing the money to his use with some designated depository.
11th. All granted lands not earned in time by  the terms of the grant should be at once declared forfeit and opened to settlement, and no further grants be made to any person or corporation.
All these reforms and many more are demanded by justice and right, and must be made or there will be trouble and anarchy sooner or later. The American people are patient and long suffering, but sometimes they get around by injustice to be unjust and rebellious, as witness the Cincinnati mob. Of course, the people need educating, but these reforms will educate. They are not taking their education so much from schemers and politicians as formerly and their eyes are getting open to all those species of injustice and wrong, so that no sophistry is going to satisfy them.
Above all things we are for just laws. We have no veneration for antiquated things unless they are just. We believe in the people, and that the people should rule in the interests of the people.
Now we have no hope for any of these reforms except through the Republican party. It is true that many Republicans are conservative and that a majority of the people are conservative and afraid of a change. All the reforms which have been accomplished since the existence of the Republican party have been through its instrumentality. It has first made Kansas a free state and prevented the extension of the area of slavery, then it has prevented a dissolution of the union, emancipated a race, given it civil rights and suffrage, built up manufactories, made home markets and prices for the products of the farm, raised the prices of labor and given it the comforts of the better classes in Europe; given the country an abundance of the best currency ever known; made the country the most prosperous of any country in any age, reformed the civil service, and has done all that has been done toward the suppression of dram-selling, gambling, and vice.
It has been the party of progress and though it has not progressed as fast as some of us would desire, it has gone as fast as the people would sustain it in the direction of reforms; sometimes a little faster as witness the prohibitory movement in this state and the narrow escape from defeat in the two last presidential elections.
The Democratic party has always been the brake on the wheels of progress, has opposed all the reforms proposed by the Republicans, and has only accepted them when they were accomplished facts. Republicans are more radical and easily educated up to a reform, and will adopt it as soon as the people will sustain it.
There is no use in forming new parties to forward any of these reforms. A prohibition party, or an anti-monopoly party, or a labor party, or a party instituted to accomplish any other reform, will utterly fail of doing any good, while it will do much hurt in drawing nearly all its strength from the Republican party and tending to throw the control of government into the hands of the Democratic party—the conservative enemy of all reform.

There is only one way to effect reforms and that is to act and work with the Republican party and by your weight and influence enable it to succeed while carrying your pet reform.
Winfield Courier, April 10, 1884.
Dressmaking by Misses Scott & Hartman, next to the telephone office. Patronage solicited.
Excerpts...
[COUNTY CONVENTION.]
Winfield Courier, April 24, 1884.
The Republican convention of Cowley County met according to call at the Opera House in Winfield on Saturday, April 19, 1884, at 11 o’clock a.m.
Committee on Resolutions reported as follows.
The Republicans of Cowley County, Kansas, in delegate convention assembled, hereby exhibit a lot of ten planks which they desire should be used in the construction of the national platform this year.
1. Adherence to the principles of the Republican party as established by its action for twenty-five years, most of which have become accomplished facts and are now accepted by all parties.
2. The mission of this party is not accomplished because of the success of the principles on which it was first organized; but it is a party of progress and youthful vigor, capable of grasping all new issues, as they arise, and of settling them in the interest of the whole people.
3. A Tariff for Protection and revenue. All the productions of this country should be protected against the competition of foreign cheap labor, and tariff duties should be raised whenever insufficient to that end.
4. The restoration of the tariff of 1867 on wool.
5. National control of railroads and other corporations, to the prevention of unjust charges and discriminations.
6. A postal telegraph and telephone system owned by the government.
7. The continuance and perfection of the Civil service reform.
8. National protection of the ballot box at all elections for congress and presidential electors.
9. Placing on the pension rolls of the government the names of the heroes of this nation who languished in the rebel prisons during the war and are entitled to the sympathy of every loyal heart.
10. Endorsing the wise, clean, and judicious administration of President Chester A. Arthur.
11. We endorse the action of the congressional committee of this district, in calling the Republican congressional convention at Cherryvale on the 24th of April 1884.
12. We most cordially endorse our congressman R. W. Perkins for his opposition to the outrage perpetrated upon the loyal soldiers of this nation by the Democratic congress in the passage of the Fitz John Porter bill.
13. We hereby instructed the delegates of this county to the Cherryvale convention, to cast the votes of the delegates for Hon. R. W. Perkins for his nomination as congressman of this district, first, last, and all the time.

14. We most cordially commend and endorse the acts and conduct of the Hon. E. S. Torrance as judge of the 13th Judicial district and we do hereby instruct the delegates to the judicial convention this day chosen by this convention to vote for and in every honorable way to work for his re-nomination to the honorable position he now holds.
15. We favor for presidential nominee the best man who can win. It looks to us as though James G. Blaine would prove to be that man.
Adopted unanimously.
Winfield Courier, April 24, 1884.
The United Telephone company will put in a line next month to Wellington via Oxford, the poles for which are already shipped. This will be a big convenience to Winfield.
Excerpts...
[LICENSE TAX IN WINFIELD.]
Winfield Courier, May 1, 1884.
                                                           LICENSE TAX.
An ordinance now pending before the city council revising the present license tax, places a license on the following occupations as follows.
                           Telegraph and telephone companies, $25.00, semi-annually.
Excerpt...
Winfield Courier, May 8, 1884.
                                                      OXFORD REGISTER.
Oxford will soon have a telephone connection with Winfield, Wellington, Caldwell, Hunnewell, South Haven, Geuda Springs, and Arkansas City. The work on the line from Winfield to Wellington will be commenced in a few days. It is understood that a line will be built from Wellington to Belle Plaine during the summer, which will probably be extended to Wichita.
Excerpt...
Winfield Courier, May 15, 1884.
                                                      OXFORD REGISTER.
Winfield has seventy telephone subscribers and Arkansas City has twenty-four. The two towns are connected by a telephone wire, and we hope it will not be long before Oxford and Wellington will be able to communicate with these two cities in a like manner.
Winfield Courier, May 22, 1884.
The Winfield Brick and Tile Company has put in a telephone to its brick yards. Register Soward also has one in his office now.
Winfield Courier, June 26, 1884.
A telephone message was received Tuesday evening, stating that Mr. Luckton, a partner of T. H. Grow, of Pleasant Valley, in the cattle business, had been dangerously gored at the ranch in the Territory and requesting assistance at once.
Winfield Courier, June 26, 1884.
R. E. Wallis has put a telephone into his residence, and the grocery establishment of Wallis & Wallis also sports one of these important adjuncts and can now fill orders by telephone with neatness and dispatch.
Arkansas City Republican, June 28, 1884.
Mrs. Bishop, manager of the telephone at Winfield, was in the city Tuesday.

Winfield Courier, August 7, 1884.
Mrs. Alice Bishop started Monday for a month’s visit with relatives in Chicago and Bloomington, Illinois. Her sister, Miss Mary Berkey, will have charge of the telephone office during her absence.
Arkansas City Traveler, August 13, 1884.
Miss Eva Berkey, of Winfield, will preside over our telephone system for a few weeks, during the absence of Miss Etta Barnett, who takes a vacation.
Winfield Courier, August 28, 1884.
E. H. NIXON, ABSTRACT OFFICE and Notary Public. Office in Winfield Bank Building, upstairs. Telephone connection.
Arkansas City Republican, September 6, 1884.
Miss Eva Berkey, who has been in the telephone office here for several weeks, has returned home to Winfield. She was tired of the bustling, busy whirl of city life, and was glad to again seek the rural districts.
Winfield Courier, September 11, 1884.
Mrs. Bishop, the popular Superintendent of the telephone service in this city, returned from a visit to friends in Illinois last week and is again at the Central office.
Winfield Courier, October 2, 1884.
The United Telephone Co. will extend its line from Winfield to Wellington, this month, via Oxford. This will be a great convenience to our people, giving them connection in a circuit embracing Hunnewell, Caldwell, Wellington, Arkansas City, and Geuda Springs. The company is also talking of a connection with Burden and Cambridge.
Arkansas City Republican, October 18, 1884.
Our election news from Ohio Tuesday night was furnished by the telephone exchange, which was very satisfactory. It was sent down from Winfield by the exchange there.
Winfield Courier, November 6, 1884.
CITY AND COUNTY ELECTION NOTES. [SKIPPED MOST OF THE HEADERS.]

The COURIER office was jammed with eager faces at an early hour Tuesday evening to catch the first bulletins that came in. Anxiety, deep and searching, was depicted in every visage. The first dispatches were meager, but along toward midnight the news began to come from all quarters, fluctuating in the interests of both parties. The crowd overwhelmed all bulletin board space and the Opera House was secured. About this time dispatches giving New York, Indiana, and other strongholds to the Democrats began to come in. These engulfed the Democrats in wildest hilarity. Democratic throats that hadn’t yelled for twenty years were seen to oil up and fairly paralyze the air with hurrahs. The Republicans were feeling a little blue, which feeling was borne out by the dispatches until yesterday afternoon, when the tables turned and Republicans began to yell. The COURIER office was densely packed in the evening, and every dispatch as it noted increased Republican gains everywhere, received with triumphant shouts. When New York was conceded, enthusiasm knew no bounds. Men marched by hundreds up and down Main Street fairly renting the air with hurrahs. Headed by the Juvenile Band, they paraded the streets until a late hour. When the crowd left the COURIER Sanctum at one o’clock, it was to sleep in sweet consciousness of a grand Republican victory—in the sweet assurance of prosperous times and happy people for another four years.
The last Republican meeting of the Campaign at the Opera House Monday night was an enthusiastic and harmonious one: a true precursor to the grand victory in waiting. Words are inadequate to express the effect of the beautiful and appropriate songs of the Glee Club. Mr. Blair, the leader, had transposed songs to fit each local candidate and their reception was telling and hilarious. Capt. W. E. Tansey, Senator W. P. Hackney, Judge T. H. Soward, A. H. Limerick, and Ed. P. Greer gave addresses. Before the meeting adjourned, Senator Hackney stepped forward and said that he had marched on the field with the colored man and he would also like to have one speak on the rostrum with him; and he moved that Mr. John Nichols express his opinions to the audience. John made a speech which would honor any man who had come up under similar circumstances and showed the loyalty that flowed in his veins for the Grand Old Party that gave his race the liberty and citizenship that would allow them to voice their sentiments anywhere in the north. He heaped just censure on the spirit that suborned the darky in the South.
Gov. Glick in his speech at Arkansas City last Friday night paid a very uncomplimentary personal tribute to Rev. Kelly of this city, whereupon the citizens of the Terminus rented the Opera House there, telephoned Mr. Kelly to come down Monday evening and paralyze Glick’s abusive argument. The Rev. went down, and threw shot and shell into the camp of the enemy for two hours in a way that made the boldest of them wince. It was a powerful speech, and Tuesday’s 161 majority for Martin in that place voiced its results and the staunch sentiments of that people. Rev. Kelly has no use for a religion that can’t enter into politics and everyday life and no use for that political party that can’t stand a little religion; convictions which are appreciated by all loyal and noble-thinking people.
Our more enterprising Democrats did all in their power to receive Governor Glick last Thursday in a manner indicating a warm place for him in the hearts of Cowley people. He was driven about in a fine landau drawn by four brightly caparisoned snow white steeds, jockeyed by liveried men, with all the apparent pride and pomp of Old England. Through courtesy to the Governor of the Great State of Kansas, Republicans swelled the crowd to respectable proportions. Merely as a gubernatorial candidate he would have made not even a small riffle among the loyal people of Cowley—a fact plainly exhibited through Tuesday’s ballot.
The colored voters of Winfield showed their loyalty to the Grand Old Party which gave them citizenship by marching in a body of thirty, Tuesday, and casting their straight ticket, amid shouts of approval. A more enterprising and loyal lot of colored men can’t be found than those in Winfield.
On Wednesday while the bulletins favorable to Sheriff Cleveland were coming in, Ben Cox was strutting the streets with a victorious little rooster perched on his Cleveland hat. He appeared on the street Thursday morning without the rooster and with his white plug encircled with crape.
Spencer Miner says he bet his wife that West Virginia would go Republican and he saved his wife and got Virginia. “We turned the rebels out,” is the way he puts it. He’s wild with enthusiasm, especially over the result in his native State.

The antiquated Democracy of Cowley could hardly hobble up to the polls Tuesday, and when it did get there, the dose was too much for its soured condition. Every Republican candidate ran head of the ticket.
Over a thousand majority is estimated for Martin in Cowley and the Plumed Knight will get about fourteen hundred. Nearly every county Republican candidate got there with a thousand majority and upwards.
Henry E. Asp beat the record of Maude S. His rousing majority is a compliment worthy the pride of any ambitious young man. It is a splendid recognition of his superior energy and ability.
Liquid enthusiasm seems to have vanished with Glick’s prospects. Very few intoxicated men have been seen in this city during all this intense excitement.
The visages of J. B. Lynn, Ben Cox, and Sam Gilbert are perfect pictures of despair: at least they were the last seen of them early yesterday evening.
O, where! O, where! is G. Washington Glick and his red-nosed followers? In their caves of gloom never to come forth triumphantly again.
Judge Torrance and Prof. Limerick, with no opposition, captured almost the entire vote of the county—a meritable compliment indeed.
L. P. King got there, Eli, for the legislature in the 67th district, with a good majority.
Poor, honest O’Hare! His only consolation is in having at least kept in sight of Sheriff Cleveland, in Cowley.
Glick and whiskey downed and Martin and prohibition enthroned. “Ad astra per aspera.”
Rewards are now being freely offered for the discovery of a Democrat.
“God reigns and the Government at Washington still lives.”
TELEGRAPH VERSUS TELEPHONE...
Arkansas City Republican, November 8, 1884.
A slight feeling sprung up between the telephone exchange and Western Union Telegraph company, as to who should furnish the election returns. The matter was settled by both furnishing them. The operator at Winfield agreed not to receive any messages if they were transmitted to Arkansas City by telephone. It looked for a time as if the Western Union Telegraph Company was about to triumph, but Will McConn on Tuesday afternoon went to Winfield and in the evening when the messages began to arrive, began telephoning them to the Arkansas City exchange, and as they arrived here, were posted up.
Will remained there for two days and by perseverance “got there,” giving the returns as they arrived in Winfield. As a consequence, Winfield did not have a bulletin board, but the dispatches were read in the opera house. They furnished returns until yesterday.
Arkansas City Traveler, November 19, 1884.
We omitted to mention last week that the Telephone exchange furnished complete election returns from Winfield, in a manner highly satisfactory to their friends.
Arkansas City Republican, November 22, 1884.

Cowley County polled at the late election on the presidency 6,524 votes. Sumner polled 6,578. Winfield polled 947 and including the suburbs at least 1,100. Wellington polled 967 votes. This disposes of the Wellington claim of being ahead of Winfield. Winfield and Walnut Township together polled 1,376 votes. Arkansas City and Creswell Township, together polled 1,088 votes. Arkansas City has not got in the lead yet, but has done well.
Winfield Courier.
Look here, Mr. Courier, what is the use of you telling so much of the untruth. We telephoned up to Winfield for the official returns of Winfield and Walnut Township and received the following figures: Winfield City, 847 votes; Walnut Township, 329 votes. Just where you get your 1,376 votes, we can’t figure out unless you climb over into some of the other townships surrounding. [DIFFERENCE OF 200.]
[TELEPHONE PETITION.]
Winfield Courier, December 11, 1884.
A petition signed by most of the telephone subscribers of the city has been sent to the company asking them to keep the central office open nights and Sundays. The greatest convenience offered by the telephone service is at night.
Winfield Courier, December 18, 1884.
Says the A. C. Republican: “Over one hundred subpoenas have been served on parties here notifying them to appear at Winfield during the January term of court. Geo. McIntire  telephoned down to Capt. Rarick to bring up the entire city and he would subpoena them as they alighted from the train.”
                                                                    1885
Arkansas City Republican, January 17, 1885.
E. Garrard, general repairer and inspector of this state for the telephone company, was in the city this week looking after the instruments of the company.
Arkansas City Republican, January 17, 1885.
H. G. Chipchase, manager of the Wellington and Caldwell telephone exchange, and repairer of Winfield and Arkansas City Exchanges was in the city this week attending to the interests of the company and its patrons. Mr. Chipchase deserves credit for since he has had charge of this division our exchange has grown rapidly.
Arkansas City Traveler, May 27, 1885.
Hereafter telephone talks between this city and Winfield, not exceeding five minutes in duration, can be indulged in at the cost of twenty cents.