Removed.
Now, that is quite interesting. Took the prisoners to Wichita for safe keeping. Elk County used to take prisoners to Eureka for housing when Greenwood County had a jail before Howard did.
I swear Marcia.. You have the most interesting stuff. I can't wait until you get that danged book ready to sell. :)
As fantastic as it might sound, Howard County took prisoners to Allen County at Iola.
Iola is seventy-seven miles from Elk Falls. It must have been quite a trip by horse and wagon to get there and back with a prisoner.
There was at least one escape under this setup.
Sometimes, Howard County took prisoners to Cowley County at Winfield.
In March 1874, Elk Falls had more prisoners than (I think) any Kansas county jail of the time could hold. They were put in boarding houses and empty buildings under armed guards who may have been members of the Kansas State Militia.
These prisoners consisted of some of the men in Centre Township who had been arrested or had surrendered as a result of participating in the Boston War.
The governor (the Kansas State Militia commander-in-chief), came to Elk Falls that month initially to direct a march on Boston. By him being on the scene in person, he hoped to limit the bloodshed.
In the face of the militia and the governor many men gave up. The governor wound up addressing the prisoners and the whole county seat war came to an end a few days later. None of these men were prosecuted. They were freed under an arrangement that if the Howard County records and property were returned to Elk Falls they could go free.
That happened. But as it turned out, some critical 1873 records were missing courtesy of a crooked Howard County Treasurer.
It sounds like that tongues wagged with gossip.