28 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
whemingly in the majority, declared their intention of elect- 
ing the full list of officers and of running what they termed a 
‘wide-open’ town. As soon as the election proclamation 
was issued both sides went actively to work selecting their 
candidates and preparing for the struggle for supremacy. 
The law and order part of the community selected the follow- 
ing as their candidates: For mayor, George W. Webb, formerly 
of Fort Scott; for police judge, A. W. McGill, of Cherokee 
county ; for councilmen, J. F. Higgins, W. I. Linn, R. EK. 
Spencer, Llewellyn Thomas, and W. G. Griffin. 
‘The other party selected one Beardsley for mayor, but 
the balance of the ticket we are unable to learn. Beardsley 
was a gambler, and it was understood that he had served a 
term in the penitentiary. 
‘The day and night before the election was a period of in- 
tense excitement. Both sides spent the night arranging 
details and disposing of their forces for the coming day with 
as much care, and many with as serious foreboding, as though 
it were the night before an actual battle and no one knew 
who, if any, would be left to tell the tale. It seemed that 
the entire effort of the rough crowd was concentrated on 
Galena, and it became the battle-ground of the new district. 
During the night the ‘moralists,’ which the other party 
sneeringly called the order-loving people, induced Mr. J. C. 
Murdock, who had been a peace officer in Missouri, and knew 
the lawless element, to serve as one of the judges and receive 
the votes. They also erected a temporary partition in the 
rear part of the room by setting lumber upright, behind which 
a dozen men, armed with rifles and shotguns, were stationed, 
in readiness for any emergency. Around the building, also, 
pickets were placed, to avoid an attack from the rear. When 
the time came for electing a judge in the place of one of those 
named in the order, who failed to appear, candidates were 
named by each party, and Mr. Murdock was elected by a 
minority vote. Being an athlete, with the fear of no man, 
he immediately assumed the position, and it soon became 
apparent that ‘in our need, the hour had found the man.’ 
Several times during the day Murdock stepped outside on the 
challenge of some tough to ‘fight it out,’ but his promptness 
