June 1, 1866, Murder in New Town Warrensburg During Frank Blair, Jr. Speech
(Not certain which is correct, Stevens or Stephens in the following articles)
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1949 Story
Murder Accompanied a Missouri Speech By One of the Blairs of Blair House
By Icie F. Johnson.
The Kansas City Star - Warrensburg, MO., With President Truman and his family living in the famous Blair House in Washington, while the executive mansion is receiving extensive improvement, some of the historic events which were once centered around the Blair family and their Washington home are being recalled. One event which was particularly important to Missourians concerned Francis P. Blair, Jr. when he made a speech in Warrensburg that resulted in a murder. Continued
The Kentucky - Washington Blairs, father, and two sons became powerful political leaders and after the Civil war period. It was during the reconstruction period that Francis (Frank) Preston Blair, Jr., toured Missouri, fighting against another "Loyalty oath," such as is today tearing the country again into camps of heated dissension. It was a June day in 1866 that Frank Blair came to Warrensburg to give one of his rousing speeches against the evils of the reconstruction plan for the South. A loyal conservative Republican he and his father had helped to organize the party--Blair still felt that the radical elements of the Republican party were destroying the ideals over which the country had just fought a war. Kentucky born, the Blairs had been Democrats until the slavery issue rose. Francis Preston Blair Jr. (February 19, 1821 – July 8, 1875) was an American jurist, politician, and soldier. He represented Missouri in both the House of Representatives and the Senate and was active in preventing the state of Missouri from being absorbed into the Confederacy at the beginning of the Civil War. Blair was instrumental in appointing Nathaniel Lyon as the new military commander of the Western Department of the U.S. Army. He assisted Lyon in securing the help of the St. Louis' Home Guard in moving over 20,000 rifles and muskets from the St. Louis Arsenal to Illinois. Missouri secessionists considered this event as breaking of informal truce established in the state. This set the scene for the Camp Jackson Affair and continuing guerrilla activity by outraged pro-slavery elements. In 1862, Blair joined the Missouri volunteers, being promoted major general, commanded a division at Vicksburg under Sherman, took part in Sherman's March to the Sea and ended the war as a corps commander. In 1868, he was Horatio Seymour's vice-presidential candidate, but his dramatic speeches about the dangers of black emancipation were believed by some to have cost the Democrats the election. Blair suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1873 but continued to be active in state politics until his death.
(Not certain which is correct, Stevens or Stephens in the following articles)
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1949 Story
Murder Accompanied a Missouri Speech By One of the Blairs of Blair House
By Icie F. Johnson.
The Kansas City Star - Warrensburg, MO., With President Truman and his family living in the famous Blair House in Washington, while the executive mansion is receiving extensive improvement, some of the historic events which were once centered around the Blair family and their Washington home are being recalled. One event which was particularly important to Missourians concerned Francis P. Blair, Jr. when he made a speech in Warrensburg that resulted in a murder. Continued
 |
| (Maj. Gen.) Sen. Francis P. Blair, Jr. (1821 - 1875) |
William T. Sherman after hearing about Blair's death said, "I always regarded him as one of the truest patriots, most honest and honorable men, and one of the most courageous soldiers this country ever produced." Ulysses S. Grant wrote about Frank Blair in his memoir that, "There was no man braver than he, nor was there any who obeyed all orders of his superior in rank with more unquestioning alacrity. He was one man as a soldier, another as a politician."
In 1899, the state of Missouri donated a marble statue of Blair by Alexander Doyle to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection.
Continued
Missouri in the Balance
Always he had been a fighter for democracy, and Frank had stood for the preservation of the Union and for human rights, He had led the campaign for the Free Soil party when Missouri was weighing the balance of Union or Confederacy. When the notorious "loyalty oath" was proposed by the radicals of the Republican party, the Blair's fought against it. H. (Henry Huston) H. Crittenden henry-huston-Crittenden gravesite, formerly of Warrensburg, son of Gov. T. T. Crittenden, once said: "To Frank P. Blair. Jr.. is due more than anyone else, the fact that Missouri did not secede from the Union and cast her lot with the Confederate states. It was his untiring energy, foresight, ability, and courage, aided by the military strategy of General Nathaniel Lyon, that saved the day at Camp Jackson in St. Louis in May 1861, Missouri's first move to stand by the Union."
They were lawless days in Missouri when Frank Blair came to Warrensburg to give his speech. Men were still quick on the trigger. Warrensburg, like other towns, had its problems right after the war. Some men insisted on being lawless and murdered and plundered as they had in the army. A favorite pastime with them was shooting out the lights in homes and churches and public meetings of all kinds, intimidating and even attacking citizens, and shooting merchandise off the shelves of stores.
The day that Blair came to Warrensburg, his friends warned him that the radicals and lawless had threatened to kill him if he gave his speech. He had often been threatened, so the fearless Blair replied calmly:
"Gentlemen, I will speak this afternoon, and I shall explode a shell in this town that will be remembered by these scoundrels as long as they live."
"Loyalty Oath"
His speech began at about 1 o'clock. An hour later trouble began. As he explained the evils of the so-called "Drake constitution," also known as the "oath of loyalty," and "test oath," the radicals in the crowd began shouting, "Lies," at him, but he went right on. The radical Republicans demanded an oath of loyalty to the government, going so far as to disqualify "anyone from voting or holding any office of honor, trust, or profit, or managing a corporation, or teaching in any school, or a minister of the gospel performing any official duty, who had ever served in the Confederate army, or in any way befriended a Confederate soldier." Frank Blair was determined to fight such unreasonableness as he had fought for the freeing of the slaves which he and his family had always owned, and the preservation of the Union.
Sitting on the platform of the speaker's stand, which had been built for the occasion, was Bill Stephens, a farmer and a leader of the radicals in the community. Behind him was his lawyer, Col. T. T. Crittenden later governor (Missouri) a friend of Blair. Crittenden had purposely sat beside Stephens so he could watch him if he tried to attack Blair, as he and his gang had threatened to do. Stephens was supported by his two sons, who were as fiery as their father.
Ready for an Assailant
Suddenly Bill Stephens jumped to his feet and called Frank Blair a liar. Colonel Crittenden grabbed Stephens and forced him back in his chair, insisting that he keep quiet. When Blair heard the commotion, he turned to Crittenden and said, "I'll take care of the later he told Colonel Crittenden and said, "I'll take care of the -------" Later he told Colonel Crittenden that he carried a Derringer pistol in his pocket for such occasions.
Blair went on with his speech in spite of the interruption, but the Stephens gang was prepared for trouble, and knives and pistols glistened in the sunlight. Blair's men were protecting him with cocked pistols. The Stephens gang had guns ready for Blair.
Suddenly Jim Stephens, son of Old Bill, as he was called, started toward Frank Blair with an open knife. A farmer of Johnson County, named Williams, saw the danger and swung at young Stephens with a knife, fatally stabbing him. He was carried to Culver's Corner, a short distance from the speaker's stand, and soon died of his wounds. Old Bill left the stand to look after his son, and the gang withdrew from the crowd.
During the disturbance, a part of the speaker's stand was knocked down, but Frank Blair continued with this speech as if nothing had happened. Quickly the stand was put up again with the assistance of such prominent men in Missouri as Francis M. Cockrell, Col. Wells H. Blodgett and Colonel Crittenden. At 6 o'clock, Blair completed his speech, apparently unaware of the tragedy which had taken place right before his eyes.
Cornerstone ceremonies took place Aug. 25, 1896 for the Second New Town - Johnson County Courthouse.
Picture looking West from Market Street to Holden Street.
Johnson County's second courthouse, located on the square several blocks east of the old square, came as a result of a business population shift to the new railroad depot. Citizens of Warrensburg donated a courthouse in 1875 after the county rejected bond proposals to provide facilities. The simple frame building on the west side of the square measured about 30 by 50 feet. It was used for part of the county's business activities until the 1890s.
JOCOMO Courthouses Link
Bill Stephen's died on Culver's Corner after being carried from the platform.
Frank Blair's speaker's platform in 1866 would have been located in the highlighted area, approximately.
Woman Helps Him Escape
After Williams stabbed Jim Stephens, he escaped from the crowd and ran to the Ming Hotel, near the depot. He slipped through the kitchen up to a guest's room where he hid in the closet. Officers traced his course to the hotel. They went to the room where he was hiding but failed to find him among the clothes in the closet. The guest in the room, a young woman, told the officers that there was no one in the closet. If she knew that he was there, she kept her secret from the officers.
Later Williams was brought to trial. On April 20, 1967, he was granted a change of venue because he asserted, the court prejudiced against him.
In the Johnson County court records, the case reads "State of Missouri against Seldon P. Williams and Oliver D. Williams, defendants." The two men, brothers, were accused because it could not be determined which one made the attack on Stephens. They were placed under a $10,000 bond.
The case was taken to Independence. Jackson County, for trial. The witnesses confused the case with their apparent inability to determine which man, Seldon (Pitt) or "Oil" Williams, did the stabbing. On September 13, 1876, according to the records in the Jackson County Circuit court, Sheldon Williams was tried before a jury and found not guilty. The circuit attorney, in turn, dismissed the case against Oliver D. Williams on the same day, and the brothers went free, chiefly, according to the observers, because no one could or would be sure which one killed young Stephens.
1932 Story
MISSOURI HISTORY NOT FOUND IN TEXTBOOKS
BLAIR A CHAMPION FOR MEN HE HAD FOUGHT threats of death without waver, Frank P, Blair, the man who saved Missouri to the Union in 1861, delivered his scheduled speech against Missouri Radicals at Warrensburg June 1, 1866, sixty-six years ago week. Few events in the history Johnson county are more stirring, for before Blair had finished the speech in which he pleaded for justice to his former Confederate enemies, one man lay dead, and two seriously injured.
Blair had kept Missouri in the Union by prompt action in 1861. He fought as a Federal general during the Civil war. When he returned to Missouri after the War he found Radicals in full control. Former could not vote and strict laws hindered them at every hand, "We are brethren", Frank Blair and began to fight for the rights of Southern men. Many persons were to understand the toleration for which Blair pleaded; former friends became his bitter enemies and enemies became his devoted friends, arrived at Warrensburg on time to speak that soft, warm June day of 1866. North of the courthouse a stand had been erected for the speaking. But all was not as tranquil as the day suggested. Rough men had threatened for weeks to murder Blair if he attempted to speak. A group of friends met Blair at Ming's Hotel in the morning and warned him that an attempt would probably be made to kill him. "Gentlemen," Blair said, "I will speak the afternoon and I will explode a shell in this town that will be remembered by those scoundrels as long as they live.
June 1, 1866 (Northside of Today's Courthouse Square Area Downtown)
About two o'clock Blair mounted the speaker's stand and began his forceful arraignment of Radical Rule in Missouri. Hundred of sympathetic citizens crowded about but a crowd of about fifty desperadoes led by "Old Bill Stevens" was in the audience. Blair had spoken only a few minutes when Stevens called Blair a liar. Stevens was rushed from the gathering but returned in a few minutes and repeated his statement. In the excitement that followed, Stevens and his men rushed for the platform on which Blair stood, One man, said to be Col. Crittenden, later governor of Missouri, grasped the giant Stevens by the throat. The surge of the crowd crushed In the speaker's platform. Someone stabbed and instantly killed Jim Stevens, son of Bill Stevens and two others were badly injured. Drawn pistols flushed in the sun and many were aimed at Blair, but others were aimed at the men who sought to shoot the speaker. Through it all, Frank Blair stood calm and self-possessed and watched Stevens gang retired from the meeting. Blair immediately took up his speech again and continued until nearly six o'clock. The Warrensburg affair was not the first time during his fiery speaking tour of 1866 that Blair faced threats of violence and bloodshed. Today a bust of Frank Blair may be found in Statuary Hall in the National Capitol, representing one of the two greatest citizens of Missouri; another statue stands in Forest Park, St. Louis. Blair came from a fighting family, his father being Francis P. Blair, Sr., noted editor and advisor of Andrew Jackson. Young Blair was born in Lexington, Kentucky, February 19, 1821, and named Francis P. Blair, Jr., but he preferred to be known as "Frank." Young Blair graduated from Princeton in 1811, studied law and came to St. Louis in 1812. His brother, Montgomery, also was in St. Louis at that time, and later became postmaster general under President Lincoln, At first Blair was a Democrat, but advocated free-soil policies, After the Missouri senator, Benton, died, Blair became the leader of Missouri's Union Democrats. He later helped to organize the Republican party in St. Louis. Anticipating the Civil war, Blair organized armed troops in St. Louis and in 1861 met the challenge of Gov. Jackson of Missouri by aiding General Lyon in capturing Camp Jackson and saving Missouri to the Union. Later as a major-general in the Union Army, he won the praise of Sherman and Grant. After the War, Blair opposed the reconstruction policies of Radical Republicans. In 1808 he was Democratic candidate for vice-president of the United States. Blair served in the Missouri General Assembly, was representative to Congress, and became U. S. Senate from Missouri in 1871. He was defeated for re-election to the Senate In 1873, and the same year suffered a stroke of paralysis, he died July 9, 1875.
Clipped from The Current Local, 02 Jun 1932, Thu, Page 1
1881 Story
CHAPTER XV.—THE REIGN OF TERROR.
Introduction—Frank P. Blair in Warrensburg—A Tragedy, One Man Killed—The Murder
It was in 1866, the clouds arising from the civil conflict had hardly cleared away, and the passions engendered during those stormy days were still warm. Malice and hatred stalked abroad untrammeled and unchecked throughout the land.
Society had been stranded upon the breakers of the war and was but slowly recovering from the wreck.
The rights of men were being trampled upon daily. Life was taken time after time with impunity. Murderers and plunderers appeared on the streets of Warrensburg, at all times, insulting and abusing the more civil classes of citizens. It was nothing unusual for them to strike defenseless men with pistols, ride into and through business houses, shooting articles of merchandise from the walls, snuffing lights out of people ’s houses with pistol shots, or shooting promiscuously into public gatherings. Religious meetings and political assemblies were ruthlessly broken up. The. people were terrorized. All the worst passions of the worst men in the country ran riot, and the civil authorities were either too cowardly to resist them, or powerless to do so. Chaos reigned supreme!
There were officers of the law, but no law enforced. Men were tried for murder by timid courts and packed juries. Acquittals were procured through fraud and perjury. Verdicts, turning men loose upon society, who were notoriously guilty of assassination and robbery, were hailed with acclamations of triumph by accomplices.
The courts were no longer a protection to society or a vindicator of its wrongs. They became the theater of scenes so revolting to the feelings of the people that they were looked upon more as institutions of vindication than of justice. In this state of affairs, the first day of June dawned.
The day was a fine one, soft, warm, clear, and one long to be remembered by our people.
On that day the grand old champion of the peoples’rights, Gen. Frank P. Blair, was advertised to speak at Warrensburg. Extensive preparations had been made for his reception, and the gathering was to be north at of and near the spot now occupied by the courthouse, where a commodious stand had been erected for the occasion. The roughs of the county, led by old Bill Stephens, had threatened to kill Blair, in case he attempted to address the multitude that had gathered from all parts of the country to hear him. Gen. Blair was waited upon in his rooms at Ming’s hotel by a party of friends, who advised him not to attempt to speak, as he would surely be killed. His reply was: “ Gentlemen, I will speak this afternoon, and I will explode a shell in this town that will be remembered
by these d—d scoundrels as long as they live.” At one o’clock Gen. Blair took the stand and began his speech. He was interrupted and insulted time after time. About 2 o’clock Bill Stephens ascended to the front of the stand and gave Blair the d—d lie. He was ejected amid considerable confusion. In less than eight minutes the speaker ’s stand was thrown down and Stephens again entered it, using the same insulting language to the speaker. He was again ejected. A hundred pistols flashed out in the warm June sun, and the ominous clicking of a hundred triggers was heard on all sides, men stood with cocked pistols leveled on Blair, while others stood with pistols leveled on them.
During this time Jim Stephens, a son of old Bill, had been knifed to death, and another man nearly so. Stephens withdrew with his dead son, followed by his roughs, and Gen. Blair concluded his speech at six o’clock.
The shell had exploded.
In 1899, the state of Missouri donated a marble statue of Blair by Alexander Doyle to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection.
Continued
Missouri in the Balance
Always he had been a fighter for democracy, and Frank had stood for the preservation of the Union and for human rights, He had led the campaign for the Free Soil party when Missouri was weighing the balance of Union or Confederacy. When the notorious "loyalty oath" was proposed by the radicals of the Republican party, the Blair's fought against it. H. (Henry Huston) H. Crittenden henry-huston-Crittenden gravesite, formerly of Warrensburg, son of Gov. T. T. Crittenden, once said: "To Frank P. Blair. Jr.. is due more than anyone else, the fact that Missouri did not secede from the Union and cast her lot with the Confederate states. It was his untiring energy, foresight, ability, and courage, aided by the military strategy of General Nathaniel Lyon, that saved the day at Camp Jackson in St. Louis in May 1861, Missouri's first move to stand by the Union."
 |
| Thomas Theodore Crittenden, Missouri Governor and Warrensburg Attorney |
The day that Blair came to Warrensburg, his friends warned him that the radicals and lawless had threatened to kill him if he gave his speech. He had often been threatened, so the fearless Blair replied calmly:
"Gentlemen, I will speak this afternoon, and I shall explode a shell in this town that will be remembered by these scoundrels as long as they live."
"Loyalty Oath"
His speech began at about 1 o'clock. An hour later trouble began. As he explained the evils of the so-called "Drake constitution," also known as the "oath of loyalty," and "test oath," the radicals in the crowd began shouting, "Lies," at him, but he went right on. The radical Republicans demanded an oath of loyalty to the government, going so far as to disqualify "anyone from voting or holding any office of honor, trust, or profit, or managing a corporation, or teaching in any school, or a minister of the gospel performing any official duty, who had ever served in the Confederate army, or in any way befriended a Confederate soldier." Frank Blair was determined to fight such unreasonableness as he had fought for the freeing of the slaves which he and his family had always owned, and the preservation of the Union.
Sitting on the platform of the speaker's stand, which had been built for the occasion, was Bill Stephens, a farmer and a leader of the radicals in the community. Behind him was his lawyer, Col. T. T. Crittenden later governor (Missouri) a friend of Blair. Crittenden had purposely sat beside Stephens so he could watch him if he tried to attack Blair, as he and his gang had threatened to do. Stephens was supported by his two sons, who were as fiery as their father.
Ready for an Assailant
Suddenly Bill Stephens jumped to his feet and called Frank Blair a liar. Colonel Crittenden grabbed Stephens and forced him back in his chair, insisting that he keep quiet. When Blair heard the commotion, he turned to Crittenden and said, "I'll take care of the later he told Colonel Crittenden and said, "I'll take care of the -------" Later he told Colonel Crittenden that he carried a Derringer pistol in his pocket for such occasions.
Blair went on with his speech in spite of the interruption, but the Stephens gang was prepared for trouble, and knives and pistols glistened in the sunlight. Blair's men were protecting him with cocked pistols. The Stephens gang had guns ready for Blair.
Suddenly Jim Stephens, son of Old Bill, as he was called, started toward Frank Blair with an open knife. A farmer of Johnson County, named Williams, saw the danger and swung at young Stephens with a knife, fatally stabbing him. He was carried to Culver's Corner, a short distance from the speaker's stand, and soon died of his wounds. Old Bill left the stand to look after his son, and the gang withdrew from the crowd.
During the disturbance, a part of the speaker's stand was knocked down, but Frank Blair continued with this speech as if nothing had happened. Quickly the stand was put up again with the assistance of such prominent men in Missouri as Francis M. Cockrell, Col. Wells H. Blodgett and Colonel Crittenden. At 6 o'clock, Blair completed his speech, apparently unaware of the tragedy which had taken place right before his eyes.
 |
| Cornerstone ceremonies took place Aug. 25, 1896 for the Second New Town - Johnson County Courthouse. Picture looking West from Market Street to Holden Street. Johnson County's second courthouse, located on the square several blocks east of the old square, came as a result of a business population shift to the new railroad depot. Citizens of Warrensburg donated a courthouse in 1875 after the county rejected bond proposals to provide facilities. The simple frame building on the west side of the square measured about 30 by 50 feet. It was used for part of the county's business activities until the 1890s. JOCOMO Courthouses Link Bill Stephen's died on Culver's Corner after being carried from the platform. Frank Blair's speaker's platform in 1866 would have been located in the highlighted area, approximately. |
Picture looking West from Market Street to Holden Street.
Johnson County's second courthouse, located on the square several blocks east of the old square, came as a result of a business population shift to the new railroad depot. Citizens of Warrensburg donated a courthouse in 1875 after the county rejected bond proposals to provide facilities. The simple frame building on the west side of the square measured about 30 by 50 feet. It was used for part of the county's business activities until the 1890s.
JOCOMO Courthouses Link
Bill Stephen's died on Culver's Corner after being carried from the platform.
Frank Blair's speaker's platform in 1866 would have been located in the highlighted area, approximately.
Woman Helps Him Escape
After Williams stabbed Jim Stephens, he escaped from the crowd and ran to the Ming Hotel, near the depot. He slipped through the kitchen up to a guest's room where he hid in the closet. Officers traced his course to the hotel. They went to the room where he was hiding but failed to find him among the clothes in the closet. The guest in the room, a young woman, told the officers that there was no one in the closet. If she knew that he was there, she kept her secret from the officers.
Later Williams was brought to trial. On April 20, 1967, he was granted a change of venue because he asserted, the court prejudiced against him.
In the Johnson County court records, the case reads "State of Missouri against Seldon P. Williams and Oliver D. Williams, defendants." The two men, brothers, were accused because it could not be determined which one made the attack on Stephens. They were placed under a $10,000 bond.
The case was taken to Independence. Jackson County, for trial. The witnesses confused the case with their apparent inability to determine which man, Seldon (Pitt) or "Oil" Williams, did the stabbing. On September 13, 1876, according to the records in the Jackson County Circuit court, Sheldon Williams was tried before a jury and found not guilty. The circuit attorney, in turn, dismissed the case against Oliver D. Williams on the same day, and the brothers went free, chiefly, according to the observers, because no one could or would be sure which one killed young Stephens.
 |
| President Truman walking from Blair House.The presidential guest house, Blair House, just steps from the White House. People call it the “world’s most exclusive hotel” because heads of state, royalty, and presidents-elect stay there as guests of the commander in chief. Blair House was built in the 1820s as a family’s home, and then the US government bought it in 1942. President Harry S. Truman stayed there for four years while the White House was being renovated. |
1932 Story
MISSOURI HISTORY NOT FOUND IN TEXTBOOKS
BLAIR A CHAMPION FOR MEN HE HAD FOUGHT threats of death without waver, Frank P, Blair, the man who saved Missouri to the Union in 1861, delivered his scheduled speech against Missouri Radicals at Warrensburg June 1, 1866, sixty-six years ago week. Few events in the history Johnson county are more stirring, for before Blair had finished the speech in which he pleaded for justice to his former Confederate enemies, one man lay dead, and two seriously injured.
Blair had kept Missouri in the Union by prompt action in 1861. He fought as a Federal general during the Civil war. When he returned to Missouri after the War he found Radicals in full control. Former could not vote and strict laws hindered them at every hand, "We are brethren", Frank Blair and began to fight for the rights of Southern men. Many persons were to understand the toleration for which Blair pleaded; former friends became his bitter enemies and enemies became his devoted friends, arrived at Warrensburg on time to speak that soft, warm June day of 1866. North of the courthouse a stand had been erected for the speaking. But all was not as tranquil as the day suggested. Rough men had threatened for weeks to murder Blair if he attempted to speak. A group of friends met Blair at Ming's Hotel in the morning and warned him that an attempt would probably be made to kill him. "Gentlemen," Blair said, "I will speak the afternoon and I will explode a shell in this town that will be remembered by those scoundrels as long as they live.
June 1, 1866 (Northside of Today's Courthouse Square Area Downtown)
About two o'clock Blair mounted the speaker's stand and began his forceful arraignment of Radical Rule in Missouri. Hundred of sympathetic citizens crowded about but a crowd of about fifty desperadoes led by "Old Bill Stevens" was in the audience. Blair had spoken only a few minutes when Stevens called Blair a liar. Stevens was rushed from the gathering but returned in a few minutes and repeated his statement. In the excitement that followed, Stevens and his men rushed for the platform on which Blair stood, One man, said to be Col. Crittenden, later governor of Missouri, grasped the giant Stevens by the throat. The surge of the crowd crushed In the speaker's platform. Someone stabbed and instantly killed Jim Stevens, son of Bill Stevens and two others were badly injured. Drawn pistols flushed in the sun and many were aimed at Blair, but others were aimed at the men who sought to shoot the speaker. Through it all, Frank Blair stood calm and self-possessed and watched Stevens gang retired from the meeting. Blair immediately took up his speech again and continued until nearly six o'clock. The Warrensburg affair was not the first time during his fiery speaking tour of 1866 that Blair faced threats of violence and bloodshed. Today a bust of Frank Blair may be found in Statuary Hall in the National Capitol, representing one of the two greatest citizens of Missouri; another statue stands in Forest Park, St. Louis. Blair came from a fighting family, his father being Francis P. Blair, Sr., noted editor and advisor of Andrew Jackson. Young Blair was born in Lexington, Kentucky, February 19, 1821, and named Francis P. Blair, Jr., but he preferred to be known as "Frank." Young Blair graduated from Princeton in 1811, studied law and came to St. Louis in 1812. His brother, Montgomery, also was in St. Louis at that time, and later became postmaster general under President Lincoln, At first Blair was a Democrat, but advocated free-soil policies, After the Missouri senator, Benton, died, Blair became the leader of Missouri's Union Democrats. He later helped to organize the Republican party in St. Louis. Anticipating the Civil war, Blair organized armed troops in St. Louis and in 1861 met the challenge of Gov. Jackson of Missouri by aiding General Lyon in capturing Camp Jackson and saving Missouri to the Union. Later as a major-general in the Union Army, he won the praise of Sherman and Grant. After the War, Blair opposed the reconstruction policies of Radical Republicans. In 1808 he was Democratic candidate for vice-president of the United States. Blair served in the Missouri General Assembly, was representative to Congress, and became U. S. Senate from Missouri in 1871. He was defeated for re-election to the Senate In 1873, and the same year suffered a stroke of paralysis, he died July 9, 1875.
Clipped from The Current Local, 02 Jun 1932, Thu, Page 1
1881 Story
CHAPTER XV.—THE REIGN OF TERROR.
Introduction—Frank P. Blair in Warrensburg—A Tragedy, One Man Killed—The Murder
It was in 1866, the clouds arising from the civil conflict had hardly cleared away, and the passions engendered during those stormy days were still warm. Malice and hatred stalked abroad untrammeled and unchecked throughout the land.
Society had been stranded upon the breakers of the war and was but slowly recovering from the wreck.
The rights of men were being trampled upon daily. Life was taken time after time with impunity. Murderers and plunderers appeared on the streets of Warrensburg, at all times, insulting and abusing the more civil classes of citizens. It was nothing unusual for them to strike defenseless men with pistols, ride into and through business houses, shooting articles of merchandise from the walls, snuffing lights out of people ’s houses with pistol shots, or shooting promiscuously into public gatherings. Religious meetings and political assemblies were ruthlessly broken up. The. people were terrorized. All the worst passions of the worst men in the country ran riot, and the civil authorities were either too cowardly to resist them, or powerless to do so. Chaos reigned supreme!
There were officers of the law, but no law enforced. Men were tried for murder by timid courts and packed juries. Acquittals were procured through fraud and perjury. Verdicts, turning men loose upon society, who were notoriously guilty of assassination and robbery, were hailed with acclamations of triumph by accomplices.
The courts were no longer a protection to society or a vindicator of its wrongs. They became the theater of scenes so revolting to the feelings of the people that they were looked upon more as institutions of vindication than of justice. In this state of affairs, the first day of June dawned.
The day was a fine one, soft, warm, clear, and one long to be remembered by our people.
On that day the grand old champion of the peoples’rights, Gen. Frank P. Blair, was advertised to speak at Warrensburg. Extensive preparations had been made for his reception, and the gathering was to be north at of and near the spot now occupied by the courthouse, where a commodious stand had been erected for the occasion. The roughs of the county, led by old Bill Stephens, had threatened to kill Blair, in case he attempted to address the multitude that had gathered from all parts of the country to hear him. Gen. Blair was waited upon in his rooms at Ming’s hotel by a party of friends, who advised him not to attempt to speak, as he would surely be killed. His reply was: “ Gentlemen, I will speak this afternoon, and I will explode a shell in this town that will be remembered
by these d—d scoundrels as long as they live.” At one o’clock Gen. Blair took the stand and began his speech. He was interrupted and insulted time after time. About 2 o’clock Bill Stephens ascended to the front of the stand and gave Blair the d—d lie. He was ejected amid considerable confusion. In less than eight minutes the speaker ’s stand was thrown down and Stephens again entered it, using the same insulting language to the speaker. He was again ejected. A hundred pistols flashed out in the warm June sun, and the ominous clicking of a hundred triggers was heard on all sides, men stood with cocked pistols leveled on Blair, while others stood with pistols leveled on them.
During this time Jim Stephens, a son of old Bill, had been knifed to death, and another man nearly so. Stephens withdrew with his dead son, followed by his roughs, and Gen. Blair concluded his speech at six o’clock.
The shell had exploded.
THE HISTORY OF Johnson County, Missouri,
INCLUDING A RELIABLE HISTORY OF THE TOWNSHIPS, CITIES, and TOWNS,
KANSAS CITY, MO.:
KANSAS CITY HISTORICAL COMPANY.
1881
KANSAS CITY HISTORICAL COMPANY,
F. A. North, Managing Editor.
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