Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1893 — CIVIL WAR IN KANSAS. [ARTICLE]

CIVIL WAR IN KANSAS.

MILITIA CALLED OUT BY GOV. LEWELLINU. Republican Members with Sledge-Ham-mers Break Through Strongly Barred Boors—State Troops with Gatling Guns Ordered to the Scene —-V Conflict Imminent. Bordering on Anarchy. Topeka, Kan , special: Kansas is al most on the verge of civil war. The members of the Republican House Wednesday morning captured Representative Hall by force and turned out the Populists. They are. now in possession, and Gov. Leweliing has ordered out the State militia to eject them. There is great excitement and a riot is imminent. The Populists, who have had possession of the hall in the afternoons, adjourned yesterday until this afternoon, and, as has been the custom since the beginning of the session, the Republicans expected to hold their regular morning session 10-day. But last night the Populists swore in a large number of assistant sergeants-at-arms, who were placed on guard, and the doors and entrances to the hall were locked this morning. No one was admitted to the hall exceptlngiPop-l ulists and members of the press, and they were required to show a pass .and, run the gantlet of a dozen guards. The Republicans were fully informed of all these preparations to exclude th9m from the hall, and last night a hundred; men were sworn in as deputies. At 9 o’clock the members of thd Republican House, with their officer*, started from headquarters for the State House. The march through the lemg corridors leading to Representative Hall was unimpeded and the little column forced its way through th& linei of guards at the foot of the stairs'in the west wing and started up the stairs. On the first landing was a crowd of Populist House officers under command of Adjt. Gen. Artz. They were armed, and the advancing Republican crowd was met with the muzzles of revolvers and Winchesters. The Adjutant General commanded the Republicans to halt, but no stop was made, and the advance guard pushed into the crowd of Populists. Throe or four of them succeeded in passing the doorkeepers after a brief struggle and getting into the hall, but the Populists succeeded in closing the door and barfing it. The Republicans on the outside demanded admittance, and when it was denied them Speaker Douglass swung a large sledge hammer and began to batter down the heavy doors leading from the cloak-room. It took many blows to beat a passage-way through, but the doors finally gave way and the Republicans legislators surged in with a loud shout The Populists retredted, leaving the Republicans in lull possession of the hall. Ever since the opening of the session the Populists have had the committee rooms, Sergeunt-at-arms’ room and Chief Clerk's room. Those were all locked and guarded from the inside, but after the House had been called to order the Republicans battered down the doors and took possession of them without encountering any resistance. The Republicans and Populists are both swearing in officers as fast as possible to be in readiness for any emergency.

Called Out the Troops. With the Republicans in possession of Representative Hall the interest of the Populists centered about the Goverpor’s offices, and a guard was placed at his door. He issued a call for three companies of militia immediately after the clash in Representative Hall to storm the hall and take possession of it. Many of the militiamen declare that they will under no circumstances respond to the call of the Governor, and that they will not be a party to an assault on the Republican House. The Governor made a demand on the sheriff to swear in deputies and assist him in preserving tho peace, but the sheriff declined, saying that he did not propose to be a judge as to which of the claimants was the legal Housed Representatives. In a letter to the Governor he said that if the Governor proposed to protect the Dunsmore House, that House itself had full authority to enlist all the officers that it required to protect itself without any assistance from him. Over two hundred men took the oath of office as assistant sergeants-at-arms in the Republican House this morniDg, and the Adjutant General was busy deputizing assistants all day for the Populists. Populists say they will take possession of Representative Hall at all hazards, and Republicans say that they will not yield even at the point of the bayonet. That a bloody conflict must come all admit. Governor Leweliing has sent an order by telegraph to Captain Willis of the Light Artillery, at Wichita, commanding him to bring his company with gatling guns to Topeka by the first train and to assemble in the State house and await further orders.