Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Mexico: humidity, indoor soccer, normal)

[WCHS'59]

Information from the book "They Called Him Wild Bill" by Joseph G. Rosa.

John P. Duke a cobbler in Independence, Missouri, in 1861 sent to St Louis for 120 sheepskins dyed red.

No information as to what he was going to do with the red leather but upon receipt in Independence, Jennison's Jayhawkers arrived in town and stole the skins. They used the leather to make red leggings, hence the name Kansas "Red Legs."

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by Major Tom 58

Hope to go, but got a lot of honey-dos. Thanks for the heads up!

If you go we'll expect a report!

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Information from the book "They Called Him Wild Bill" by Joseph G. Rosa.

John P. Duke a cobbler in Independence, Missouri, in 1861 sent to St Louis for 120 sheepskins dyed red.

No information as to what he was going to do with the red leather but upon receipt in Independence, Jennison's Jayhawkers arrived in town and stole the skins. They used the leather to make red leggings, hence the name Kansas "Red Legs."

From the Civil War Muse on the web concerning the Jennison Jayhawkers:

"Jennison would waste no time in punishing Missouri secessionists for their transgressions. While the regiment was still being organized [in Kansas as a voluntary irregular military unit] and Major General Sterling Price was threatening Lexington, Missouri, Jennison took some of his cavalry to Independence, Missouri at the request of its Marshall, William Miles. Jennison proceeded to arrest every adult male and seize all of their possessions. With Miles help, Jennison then identified and released all known Unionists, sending them on their way with their possessions. Jennison proceeded to admonish the remaining, accused secessionists and warned them to stop their depredations against pro-Union Missourians. Then he released them, but kept their possessions."

John P. Duke, the cobbler, appeared to be a "sesesh" supporter.

[WCHS'59]

The year I graduated from high school, a movie came out about the Kansas Jayhawkers. Naturally, I took my Dickinson Road sweetie to see it because westerns were big and the the stars were big. The movie starred Jeff Chandler and the man everyone knew up until that time "only" as Davy Crockett, Fess Parker. I did not understand much about the Jayhawkers, and such, but they were all irregular militia.

More recently in the movie "Ride With the Devil" I still did not totally understand who the folks plundering Independence and Jackson County actually were.

But here is an excerpt from an 1863 newspaper clipping.

Jayhawkers, Red Legs, and Bushwhackers are everyday terms in Kansas and Western Missouri. A Jayhawker is a Unionist who professes to rob, burn out and murder only rebels in arms against the government. A Red Leg is a Jayhawker originally distinguished by the uniform of red leggings. A Red Leg, however, is regarded as more purely an indiscriminate thief and murderer than the Jayhawker or Bushwhacker. A Bushwhacker is a rebel Jayhawker, or a rebel who bands with others for the purpose of preying upon the lives and property of Union citizens. They are all lawless and indiscriminate in their iniquities.


Quantrill was a bushwhacker.

[WCHS'59]

More on the Redlegs in Jackson County copied from the internet:

"Harry Truman's mother, Mrs. Martha Ellen Young Truman, retained vivid memories of the Civil War up to the time of her death in 1947 at the age of ninety-four.

"She could recall an attack by Jim Lane's Kansas Redlegs when she was nine years old on her parent's farm near Grandview, Missouri. The Jayhawkers, she related, shot 400 Hampshire hogs and but off their hams, then blasted away at the hens "out of sheer cussedness" and burned the family's hay and stock barns."

[Major Tom 58]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

If you go we'll expect a report!

Didn't make it. Honey do's won out. Petey Childers house was a honey don't.

[WCHS'59]

I am not sure if I brought this up before--That is Missouri in our life time printed or coined its own currency, although it was not worth very much.

When I would go shopping on the square with my mother, probably in the late forties, there was a sales tax but it must have been less than one penny on the dollar. I think the tax was for the state only and there was no city sales tax. It seems to me Independence relied at that time greatly on the property tax for income.

At any rate, if the sales tax overall came to a fraction of a penny, my mother paid the full rounded amount and received mills back in change. Mills were red discs maybe the size of a quarter and each had a value of one-tenth of one cent. There was also a green mill that was worth 5 mills or half a cent.

Even back then when money was tight and scarce, these things did not have much value as we kids and our friends would bend the mills into half just for the fun. They were made of rather thin plastic.

Littleton, CO, the county seat of Arapahoe County where I am located, has a coin dealer who has both the Missouri red 1 mill coin and the Missouri green 5 mill coin for sale. The price is 25 cents for an uncirculated 5 mill piece.

[CaseyMO]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

The Fairmount Community Center opened on South Ash in 1999 after the conversion of the old Byam Theater. The building – after a change of ownership, Adams-Leavitt said – lacked basic repairs and was deteriorating rapidly.
Above is from an Examiner article.


The Byam Marquee was at 10223 E Independence Ave and Jerry's was at 10219 E Independence Ave.

Can you find an address for a Dr. Fred Hink?

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by CaseyMO

Can you find an address for a Dr. Fred Hink?

MRG, can you find a Dr Hink in the directories you have?

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by CaseyMO

Can you find an address for a Dr. Fred Hink?

My 1988 Polk's shows him at 524 S Hardy.