UNRECORDED HISTORY. 1 1 



" The settlers in the meantime settled upon these lands in '64, '68, '69, and 

 '70, in good faith, thinking that they were government lands, and were so 

 informed by the Interior Department at Washington, B.C. Many of the 

 settlers made valuable improvements on what proved to be lands covered by 

 the patents from the government to the railway companies, either as lands 

 included in the original grant, or indemnity lands, and the railway companies 

 required the settlers to pay the value of their own improvements, besides a 

 high price for the lands. This the settlers refused to do, and prepared to 

 resist the railway companies in the courts, and with physical force if need be. 

 The legal point involved, briefly stated, was this : The railway companies 

 claimed that their grants took effect when their roads were built / in and 

 through the State of Kansas,' and that when these roads were constructed, 

 the Osage ceded lands were a part of the public lands of the State, and 

 subject to their grants. The settlers, on the other hand, claimed that these 

 lands were open to pre-emption settlement, by the proclamation of the 

 President of the United States ; that in pursuance of such proclamation 

 they had entered upon these lands as innocent parties in good faith, and had 

 erected lasting and valuable improvements thereon, and that the grants of 

 land to the railway companies did not extend beyond the limits of what was 

 the public lands of the State of Kansas at the time the grants were made by 

 act of Congress. This is the case briefly stated: The settlers organized 

 openly at first to resist the encroachments of the railway companies upon their 

 rights ; but the companies were posted as to all the settlers' movements and 

 defeated them. The closed organization was then adopted, early in '72, 

 which was called 'The Settlers' Protective Association,' but which was 

 generally known as the Settlers' League, or Alliance. They took upon 

 themselves political action ; they instructed and pledged their congressmen, 

 and through the members of the Legislature their senators. The result was 

 that an act was passed by Congress, early in the seventies, known as the 

 * Enabling Act,' which authorized the settlers to bring an action in the name 

 of the United States to set aside the patents issued by the government to 

 these railway corporations, so far as they related to the Osage ceded lands, 

 and the United States District Attorney was instructed, in company with 

 the settlers' attorneys, to prepare the case for the United States court. 



"About this time, George R. Peck, who was a railway lawyer, was ap- 

 pointed United States District Attorney, which greatly incensed the settlers, 

 and under the pretence of consulting the Hon. George R. Peck, the ' Grand 

 Council' got him to come to Parsons, and the settlers pledged him.' I shall 

 not say how it was done ; he can tell if he desires ; but I will say that he was 

 true to his pledges, and to the interests of the settlers, and is entitled to a 

 greater reward than that he has received at their hands. I sent our plan of 

 organization to New York, my native State, where they attempted to organize, 

 but with little success, as they were soon swallowed up by the Grange ; but 

 they preserved their identity, and after the Grange movement had subsided 

 it began a growth as a trade organization. The agent who transacted the 

 Alliance business in New York State, I believe, bore the name of Johnson, 



