THE BEE: OMAHA, SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 1921.
Stirring Events in Early History of Omahti
f, ; 1 : rr" : :
Hot Legislative
Fight on Fixing j
State's Capital
Omaha Members of Assembly
of 1858 Battle Valbrously
Against Florence "Se
ceders" and Others.
(Continued from Tact Two).
shrewd practice by the opponents of
Omaha.
Last Round of Fight.
Hanscom and his associates now
turned several tricks which resulted
in the securing of enough votes tj
prevent the passage of the bill over
"Grandmother" Izard's veto.
The last round in the capital re
moval fight was fought out in the
winter of 1358. Hanscom was agai i
nummoned to champion the cause of
Omaha. At this time he was not i
member of the legislature, but was
classed as a lobbyist. However, that
made but little differer-' with him.
The plan of bribery wa discusse-t,
but Hanscom declared that he, for
one, had been paying out money long
enough, and that now he proposed
o "punch" somebody.
The opportunity for the "punching"
goon came. Speaker Decker had
armed himself with a revolver and
announced that he and his party
were prepared for any emergency.
The committee of the whole had
elected Dr. Thrall as chairman, and
he at once filled the chair. The
Omaha men now let loose a flood of
talk and held the floor from the
morning hour until late in the after
noon, when a mesfsage was received
from the clerk of the council after
that body had adjourned. Under
the joint rules no message could be
received by one branch when the
other that sent it was not in session.
Grabs For Gavel!
While this point was being dis
cussed Speaker Decker attempted to
take the chair, but Dr. Thrall held
him off. Decker grabbed for the
gavtl in Thrall's hand, and at the
same time announced that the com
mittee of the whole would rise and
receive the message from the coun
cil. This was out of order. Hans
com, as an ex-member of the legis
lature, took advantage of the privi
lege to make himself at home within
the bar. He was sitting near the
speaker's stand, and shouted to
Thrall to 'hit the rascal over the
head with the gavel." As Decker
attempted to push Thrall out of the
chair Hanscom jumped to his feet
arid pulled Thrall back.
This tussle was continued back
and forth for some little time. J.
W. Paddock and Mike Murphy now
took a hand and the next instant
grabbed him by the back of the neck
and the seat of his trousers and threw
him with great force under a table. A
free rough-and-tumble fight ensued
in which several men were roughly
handled and were given black eyes
and bloody noses as souvenirs of the
occasion. The Omaha "gang" won
out.
Adjourn to Florence.
The next morning each house
passed a resolution .of adjournment
to Florence. The proceedings of
these two bodies at Florence amount
ed to little or nothing, and they were
not recognized as a legislature by
the governor, who at that time was
V. A. Richardson of Quincy, 111.,
who had succeeded Izard in January,
1857. The secessionists had ap
pealed to the governor for protection
from "an unrestrained mob" in Om
aha, declaring that they had a well
grounded apprehension as to the
personal safety of the majority of
the legislature, and they urgently re
quested him to communicate with
them at his earliest convenience.
Governor Richardson addressed
them as "members of the legislature,"
and not as "the legislature." He
assured the Florence seceders that
if they would return to Omaha and
transact necessary "business he would
guarantee them protection from any
act of violence by any man or set
of men. The seceders. however, did
One of Omaha's Early Homstea.ds
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Olo GQoottuzH House se. co. x6en& faskam.
offer
not accept the governor s
protection. This fourth session of
the legislature, which broke up in
a row, was held in the territorial
capitol, which had been completed.
There were no more attempts to
move the capital until Nebraska be
came a state.
Call Extra Session.
An extra session of the legisla
ture was Called in the, fall of 1858
to remedy a defect in the laws which
by the action at the previous session
left the territory without a criminal
code, and the only mode of pro
cedure was the common law of Eng
land under the provisions of which
perjury, forgery and other crimes
less than capital in the United States,
were punishable with death. This
hocus pocus bill, which brought about
.this condition, was engineered
through to passage lor tne Deneni
of a Nebraska City murderer by his
lawyer, who was a member of the
legislature.
At this session the legislature paid
a high trihute to Secretary Thomas
B. Cuming, who had died in March
Cuming was a man of more than
ordinary ability. He was highly
educated, and had a somewhat varied
and active career before coming to
Nebraska. He had served in the
Mexican war. enlisting as a private
and soon rising to a lieutenancy in
a Michigan company commanded by
A. J. Hanscom.
After the war he learned telegra
phy in three weeks, and while em
ployed as an operator in Keokuk
wrote several brilliant articles for
The pispatch, of which paper he was
soon made the editor. Under his
editorship The Dispatch became the
leading paper of Iowa.
Tribute to Cuming.
The late Judge Savage paid this
tribute to Secretary Cuming:
"Neither the lapse ' of time nor
thronging events can efface the mem
ory of the talented and generous
Cuming from the minds of those
still living, who knew him. No more
gifted person has ever lived in Ne
braska." He was only 30 years old
when death cut short his brilliant
career.
Upon the admission of Nebraska
to statehood in 1867 Lincoln was
made the capital of the state with
little or no objection on the part of
Omaha which had grown to be a
city of some considerable size and
importance. The Union Pacific was
being rapidly constructed and the
railroads from the east were nearing
the Missouri river at this point.
Business was brisk and everybody
was thriving. The retention of the
capital was no longer considered
essential to the future prosperity of
the city. The legislature compensat-
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city a title to Capitol square in
consideration that it should be used
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The Abolishment of Slavery.
Very few people of the present
time are aware of the fact that negro
slavery existed in Nebraska in the
early territorial days. Nearly all
the federal office holders were from
the south and they brought with
them a "negro slave or two as ser
vants. According to the first cen
sus there were 13 slaves in the ter
ritory in the fall of 1854. In 1859
there were seven or eight slaves
owned by parties living near Ne
braska City who had come from
Missouri. In the fall of that year
a colored servant girl from Missouri
passed through Omaha way-billed at
an express package and consigned
to a United States army officer at
Fort Kearney. At an extra session
of the legislature in the fall of 185d
a bill was introduced to abolish
slavery, but .after considerable dis
cussion it was side-tracked.
About this time an advertisement
annrared in The Nebraska City Press
announcing that the sheriff would
offer for sale to the highest bidder
"one negro man and one negro wo
man, known as Hercules ana Mar
tha," to satisfy a judgment in favor
of William B. Hall. The Press called
upon the legislature to take action
in the matter, and in the fall election
the question of slavery was made a
direct issue. lhe republicans
broueht suit aeainst Hall as a kid
naper, but nothing resulted from it
except the effect upon the legisla
ture. At the next session of the legisla
ture the question of slavery again
came uo. A report bv William H.
Taylor showed that quite a number
of Nebras'-ans were slave owners.
He was one of the most vio
lent anti-slavery advocates in the
territory and was called "Handbill
Taylor" because of his propensity of
"posting" men who refused to give
him satisfaction according to the
code of honor. An extract from his
report says: "A evidence that
slavery does exist in. the territory
of Nebraska I have only to cite the
fact that Hon. S. F. Nuckolls has
instituted suit against certain parties
residing in Iowa for the value of two
colored persons, his slaves, whom he
alleges were abducted from him."
Dr. George L. Miller reported
that he deemed it "extremely injudi
cious for the legislature to lend it
self to the agitation of a subject
which, to the people of Nebraska,
is conceded to be of no practical
(Tarn to P Torn. Colnma On).
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