THE END OF CORONADO.



Excerpted from "Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1911-1912", Edited by Geo.

W. Martin, Secretary.  Vol XII., State Printing Office, Topeka, Kansas 1912, pages 441-447.



submitted by Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net); (copyright) 2001 by Teresa Lindquist



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THE END OF CORONADO.



The rival towns of Leoti and Coronado were within plain sight of each other, being but three

miles apart. Leoti was platted as a government town site in July, 1885, and was proved up June

10, 1886. The post office was first called Bonasa, the department at Washington having refused

to permit it to be called Leoti, since there was another post office in the state by the name of

Leota. A half dozen different names had been suggested by the inhabitants of the new town, and

each turned down by the department. At last Milton Brown, the secretary of the town company,

happened to see a picture of a bird called "Bonasa" and described as a species of the prairie

grouse. This seem [sic] to him not an inappropriate name for the newly fledged town, and after

some conference on the subject he sent the name to the Post Office Department, where it was

promptly accepted. The town carried this name but a short time, for on January 18, 1887, through

the efforts of Congressman S. R. Peters, the original name of Leoti was restored.



R. E. Jenness was the president of the Leoti town company, and nearly half of the members of the

association were Garden City men. A newspaper was among the town's first achievements, the

Wichita County Standard being issued November 19, 1885, by C. S. Triplett. (22) At this time

there were but five shanties on the town site, and the nearest post office Ôwas twenty-five miles

away.



Coronado was incorporated in October, 1885, with John W. Knapp as president of the town

company, and W. D. Brainerd secretary. It is said that in February, 1886, the town had but four

houses, but that by July 15 of that year it could boast of a newspaper, the Wichita County Herald,

issued by James Barrett, and after his death by James B. Rodgers. The first house in the town was

the Hotel Vendome, built by the town company and completed in February, 1886. The village

grew rapidly, and by March, 1887, there were over one hundred business houses and residences.



A bitter strife between the two towns is indicated by the tone of the newspapers during the years

1885, 1886 and 1887. The editors indulged in some of the most abusive and picturesque

invective, couched in the vernacular of the West, ever spread on print paper in Kansas. Each

town charged the other with lies, forgery, fraud, trickery, bulldozing and intimidation, and finally

with murder. From the files of these and Topeka papers we have gathered some of the facts

relative to the organization of the county of Wichita and the county-seat war.



The county was created by the legislature of 1873 and named by the late Col. M. M. Murdock, of

Wichita, Kan., who was a member of the state senate at the time; organization, however, was not

attempted for some years.



In the spring of 1886 Leoti raised money to send its representative to Topeka with a memorial for

the organization of the county, and about July 15 Governor Martin appointed W. D. Brainerd, of

Coronado, census taker for the county. Both Leoti and Coronado asked to be allowed to send an

agent with him on the census tour, that their respective interests might be protected, but

permission was refused them. The Coronado paper said: "As a public official Mr. Brainerd

intends to do his Work impartially, but as a citizen of Coronado he is for this town first, last and

all the time."



The work of the organization was not coming on as rapidly as was desired. The Leoti Standard of

October 21, 1886, thus states the cause of the delay: "Coronado has raised the question of

jurisdiction, and secured a ruling from the court that Wichita was not attached to Finney county

for judicial purposes, and under that ruling they secured an injunction to prohibit the probate

judge of Finney county from issuing deeds to the citizens of Leoti for their lots. Under that

decision the county commissioners of Finney county refused to grant the petition for organization

of Leoti as a city of the third class. Under that decision the sheriff of Finney county has failed to

issue his proclamation calling an election in Wichita county as a municipal township attached to

Finney, thus depriving nearly 1000 voters of their right of franchise."



On November 8, 1886, a delegation from Leoti, headed by C. W. Garland, arrived in Topeka in

search of Mr. Brainerd, whom they charged with connivance with Coronado in delaying the

organization of the county, "because they were unable to get enough signers to their memorial to

make Coronado the county seat." November 12 Mr. Brainerd reported to the governor a

population of 1095 householders in the county, 817 voters, and $510,572 in taxable property in

excess of exemptions.



During the last week in November representatives from both towns presented memorials to the

governor, who agreed to appoint a special disinterested commissioner to canvass the county for

votes on the county seat. The town securing the most votes was to have not only the temporary

county seat, but two county commissioners as well. The Leoti memorial contained 500 names,

while that of Coronado had 1700. Governor Martin appointed T. B. Gerow as special

commissioner, and he began his work December 7, 1886. He was accompanied by a man from

Leoti and a man from Coronado, and completed the poll December 22. The result was 451 votes

for Leoti and 285 for Coronado, a total of 736 votes cast, and the census taker had listed 817

votes. Of this special canvass the Coronado Herald, December 23, 1886, says: "No doubt Leoti

has a majority of the votes polled. Four townships north and northeast were intimidated from

voting by the presence of 72 teams loaded with rifles, shotguns and imported bulldozers from

Wallace, Greeley and Hamilton counties, 242 in number, put there by Leoti agents." The Leoti

Standard retaliated by charging that Coronado men said they would win if it cost them $50 per

vote, that they had imported Kendall men and men from other counties, and had employed a

United States marshal, without authority, to guard the polls. The Standard also claimed that the

polls at Coronado were covered by men stationed in stairways and second.story windows, armed

with Winchesters, and that in addition to these they had 300 armed men to use in case of an

emergency.



The Scott City Herald of about the same date had the following to say: "Leoti was the scene of a

genuine cowboy raid. Anticipating trouble over the county-seat war, Leoti had sent to Wallace

after a band of fifteen or twenty cowboys, armed to the teeth, to assist in protecting their rights.

Not being needed for protection, they proceeded to shoot up the town. The post office was

riddled with bullets, every business building fired into, men were compelled to dance at the point

of cocked revolvers, including the county clerk, and one man was shot through the foot."



Another lively episode of the time was the horsewhipping of a Coronado editor by a Leoti man,

who rode defiantly out of the town at full speed, shooting his revolver into the air and scattering

the women and children on the main street.



Ths (sic) poll having been completed, Wichita county was duly organized by the governorÕs

proclamation, dated December 24, 1886, and Leoti was named as temporary county seat. R. E.

Jenness, S. W. McCall and W. D. Brainerd were appointed county commissioners and Lilburn

Moore county clerk. These officers divided the county into townships, appointed voting places,

and set the day, February 8, 1887, for the election of county and township officers and the choice

of a permanent county seat. On February 4, 1887, there was approved by the governor a

legislative "Act to provide for the registration of electors at elections for the location of county

seats." This act was not published until February 5, and R. E. Jenness, chairman of the temporary

board of county commissioners, telegraphed to the attorney-general for instructions. These

instructions were to hold the election for officers on the date decided upon, but to postpone the

county-seat question, not voting on it until March 10. In a decision rendered March 3, 1887, at

the request of the governor, the attorney-general again made the statement that under the new act

the county-seat question must go over until March 10. The legislature recognized the election of

the representative from the county, Charles S. Triplett, editor of the Leoti Standard, and made no

movement to unseat him.



Nearly all of Leoti voted at this election (February 8), but over 400 Coronado boomers refused to

vote, claiming that the election would be illegal, and that it should be postponed until March 10,

proceeding to handbill the county to that effect. Leoti claimed that the act postponing the election

was unconstitutional, and that Leoti had been legally chosen county seat.



The crisis in the war came on Sunday, February 27, each town charging the other with starting it.

The following account is taken from a report of the affair made to the governor by Commissioner

Jenness, Sheriff John H.. Edwards and County Treasurer S. E. Gandy:



"About ten A. M. Sunday a messenger was sent from Coronado [to Leoti], inviting Charles

Coulter and others to go over and have a good time. About one P.M. Mr. Coulter, Frank Jenness,

William Raines, Albert Boorey, George Watkins, A. Johnson and Emmet Deming went over to

Coronado in one rig. They met a few of the boys at the drug store of Doctor Wright, and after a

half-hour visit got in their wagon to return, when Coronado men began an abusive tirade. Coulter

and Williams got out of the wagon, and the fight began. Several volleys of shots were fired into

the Leoti boys, killing Charles Coulter and William Raines and mortally wounding George

Watkins, who died later. The other four men were sitting in the wagon unarmed, but none of

them escaped without four or five severe wounds from large Winchester balls. They all fell out of

the wagon at the first volley except Albert Boorey, who with Frank Jenness escaped to Leoti with

the runaway team. The scheme was concocted by the Coronado gang, stationed on the streets and

in their houses, a large part of the shots coming from second story windows.



"We ask your excellency to take action in the matter that will prevent further bloodshed and

protect us at the election March 10."



Coronado claimed that the Leoti men came over with a case of beer, and that the visitors were

partially masked. On arrival they announced that they had come to round up the town, and

immediately started in to make everybody drink, compelling an eastern man to dance to the

spatter of the bullets, and beginning the fight by knocking down two men. It was also claimed

that the Leoti men fired from the wagon, thus forcing the Cor nado men to fire in self-defense.



The Leoti side of the story as told at the time was that Charles Coulter, who was running a drug

store at Leoti, had borrowed a case of beer from Doctor Wright, the Coronado druggist. For,

notwithstanding the desperate condition of county-seat affairs, there was a strong feeling of

neighborliness and goodwill between the citizens of the contending towns, and beer borrowing

was but one of the evidences of that feeling. Doctor Wright had not received the consignment he

had expected on Saturday, and his stock of this beverage was running a little shy. He sent word to

this effect to Coulter, asking a return of the loan. Coulter, with the utmost good nature, arranged

to keep his credit good, and asked some of the boys to go over for the ride, which invitation was

accepted. Deming was a good musician and quite a favorite among the young people, and took

his guitar along to give the Coronado folks some music. After an hour or so of social intercourse

the boys got into their spring wagon and started back home. At this juncture "Red" Loomis came

up and began abusing them, calling them names and using expressions which some of the Leoti

boys would not stand for. Then the trouble began, and Loomis got the licking he richly deserved.



The Leotians again loaded up and started for home. As they turned the corner by the bank

building they were greeted with the volley of bullets from the second-story windows, which

resulted so disastrously. The team was hit by several bullets and the bed of the spring wagon was

perforated in many places. Boorey was so full of bullet holes that his escape was considered a

miracle. Jenness was badly hurt, but seemed to be the most lucky one of the bunch. Johnson

received one bullet in the head which the physicians were unable to locate. After suffering agony

for weeks, during which his death was daily expected, he began slowly to recover. One day while

on the street the bullet dropped into his mouth, after which his improvement was rapid. Deming

was hit in the leg, and in spite of heroic efforts to save the injured member it was found necessary

to amputate it just below the thigh.



Adjutant General A. B. Campbell was notified at once of the situation, and Col. J. H. Ricksecker,

lieutenant colonel of the Second Kansas militia, was instructed to bring the Larned and Sterling

companies to Garden City and station them there ready for marching orders. General Campbell

and Colonel Ricksecker arrived at Leoti about four o'clock Monday morning, after an all-night

ride from Lakin, the nearest railroad station. Leoti was closely guarded to prevent surprise from

the enemy, and a large rifle pit was dug near the town well at the center of the town. Pickets were

also placed around Coronado to prevent the escape of any of the citizens before the authorities

could get action.



Immediately after breakfast the officers drove over to Coronado, accompanied by the sheriff, to

review the situation. General Campbell soon quieted the objections to arrest on the part of the

Coronado citizens by telling them that the law must be allowed to take its course; that he had two

companies of militia under arms, ready to march at a moment's notice, and that unless they

would quietly submit to the civil authorities he would have his soldiers on the ground in

twenty-four hours and give the town a little touch of military discipline. They finally consented to

submit to arrest if they could be guaranteed full protection. This was readily agreed to by both the

officers and the representatives of Leoti. The sheriff then proceeded to arrest fourteen citizens

implicated in the murder of the Leoti men, and swore in deputies from both towns to act as

guards. When the party returned to Leoti with the prisoners there was not the slightest

demonstration, it having been previously arranged that people should keep out of the streets as

much as possible. The sheriff placed his prisoners in the upper room of the town hail, there being

no jail. All waived examination until the June term of the district court. Four of the prisoners

were taken to Garden City and the rest to Dodge City.



Other arrests followed, making twenty in all. They were all prominent business men, including a

banker and the president of the town company, and each swore that he had nothing to do with the

shooting. In June the prisoners were all released, eight being admitted to bail at $3000 each, and

the others discharged for lack of evidence. On Saturday night, December 12, 1887, one other

Coronado man was arrested and lodged in the Leoti jail. Early Sunday morning a mob of masked

Leoti men demanded the prisoner to lynch him. Being refused, they opened fire on the sheriff and

his deputies, who returned shot for shot, which scattered the mob and left a bloody trail behind it.

The trials of all these defendants came up on a change of venue at Great Bend in February, 1888.

The trial of the man who was so nearly lynched was most bitterly contested. The jury acquitted

him, and the other cases were dismissed for want of jurisdiction.



A one-time resident of Coronado now says that his townspeople heard of the threat of the Leoti

men to round up their town, but paid little heed until the men arrived in their midst one day soon

after dinner. While they were amusing themselves by making a sick druggist and his nurse dance

to the crack of six-shooters, and other like tricks, the cooler heads of Coronado were gathering in

near-by places, armed for the protection of the town. He maintains that the Leoti men were the

first to knock down and shoot, and that three Coronado men were shot and two knocked on the

head before the volley was fired which killed the two leaders from Leoti. He also says that it was

with great difficulty that another fight was averted during the negotiations for the removal of the

dead and wounded.



Although as a result of the election of March 10, 1887, the commissioners declared Leoti to be

the permanent county seat, the Coronado paper fought to the last ditch. Its issue of March 10 had

the first page printed in red ink and gaudy with a spread-eagle and a crowing cock. It claimed to

have won the victory because Leoti had shoved in 500 illegal votes, and also stated that the light

vote at Coronado was caused by the presence of Leoti's armed forces entrenched in rifle pits

around the polls. Indeed, both towns were fortified by earthworks and rifle pits.



Until September, 1888, Coronado continued the fight to set aside the county-seat election of

March 10, 1887. Meantime Farmer City came to the front as a sort of compromise, and two

county commissioners assumed the right to remove some of the records from Leoti to Farmer

City, basing their actions on an alleged election in that year, 1888, for the location of a permanent

county seat.



The fight ended abruptly and tamely by the town of Leoti offering free lots to all Coronado

citizens desiring to move to the county seat. This offer was generally accepted, and during the

fall and winter of 1888-'89 all of the Coronado town-site buildings were moved to Leoti. The

strife was so quickly forgiven and forgotten that the president of the Coronado town company,

John W. Knapp, was elected a member of the Leoti city council the following spring. But Leoti

never became more than a country town, dwindling to a population of 151 in 1900. The Santa Fe

deserted it, selling for a few hundred dollars its one-story depot to the county for a courthouse.

The town now (1912) has a population of 288 and one railroad, the Missouri Pacific.



The last house at Coronado was just outside the city limits, on land which reverted to the state.

This house belonged to an old couple who lived on their farm. A sharp lawyer took the land as a

homestead and tried to bluff  the aged people out of the building. Ten farmers came one day with

teams and moving apparatus, set the lawyerÕs family out, and moved the four-room cottage to the

farm of the rightful owners. The lawyer sued the farmers for $10,000 each. The jury was out but

ten minutes, returning a verdict of damages for the plaintiff to the amount of 57 cents.



A few years later the editor of the Leoti Standard went over to the forsaken town site, pulled up

the old town pump and carried it to Leoti. So now there remains not even a place to get a drink of

water in this dead town, where strong drink once made men so reckless of human life.



Besides what it cost in blood and suffering and useless litigation, the Wichita county-seat war

cost the state, according to the report of the adjutant general, just $668. 08.



===



NOTE 22-The Historical Society is indebted to Mr. Triplett for information contained in this

story of "The End of Coronado." [biography of CHARLES S. TRIPLETT]