Col. Daniel Read Anthony, (USA)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Read_Anthony

Daniel Read Anthony (August 22, 1824 – November 12, 1904) was an American publisher and abolitionist. Considered colorful and controversial, he published the Leavenworth Times in Leavenworth, Kansas, as well as other newspapers in the area.

Life and career

Anthony was born in Adams, Massachusetts, one of eight children born to Daniel Anthony and Lucy Read. His older sister was Susan B. Anthony.

Anthony first came to Kansas in 1854 as part of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company to fight against the extension of slavery to the Kansas Territory. He settled in Leavenworth in 1857 where he founded the Leavenworth Conservative newspaper in 1861. He was also named the town postmaster. Leavenworth at the time was the end of the telegraph line and in 1861 he rode by horseback to Lawrence, Kansas to inform the territorial legislature of the approval of statehood for Kansas.

In 1861, R.C. Satterlee of the Kansas Herald accused Anthony of being a coward. They met on the street and exchanged gunfire with Satterlee being killed.

During the American Civil War, in 1861 and 1862, Anthony was a lieutenant colonel in the Union 7th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry where he saw action in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama.

He was elected Leavenworth mayor in 1863 and he enlisted several volunteers to burn buildings of Confederate sympathizers on the edge of town. Union General Thomas Ewing, who placed Leavenworth under martial law during the American Civil War, had him arrested for interfering with martial law (Anthony said they could locally maintain order in their own city).

In 1864 Anthony bought the Leavenworth Bulletin. In 1866 he was removed as postmaster for not supporting Reconstruction policies. He was elected presiding officer of the Republican State Convention in 1868. In 1870-1871, he served on the city council.

In 1871, Anthony purchased the Leavenworth Times, the oldest daily newspaper in Kansas. His public stance on issues and his steady acquisition of newspapers raised controversy. In 1875, William Embry, editor of the Daily Appeal, shot him at the Leavenworth Opera House. Because he was not expected to live, his sister Susan visited him. In 1876 he bought the Leavenworth Commercial, giving him a monopoly on local newspapers.

In 1887, after Anthony was horsewhipped by a man, Leavenworth residents paid by "nickel subscription" the $100 fine for a man charged with horsewhipping. In 1891 the town's mayor was fined $30 for whipping Anthony.

Anthony's childhood home in Adams, Massachusetts, is now a museum dedicated to his sister Susan B. Anthony, who was a leader in the women's suffrage movement.

Anthony’s son Daniel Read Anthony, Jr. edited the Leavenworth Times and served as Congressman from 1907 to 1929.

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Obituaries:

From the Topeka State Journal of Saturday, Nov. 12, 1904:

Anthony is Gone: Veteran Kansas Editor Passes Away at Last, End Came After a Long Lingering Illness. Always Prominent. For Half a Century in Forefront of Kansas Affairs, Participated in Exciting Times During Border Troubles.

Leavenworth, Kansas, Nov. 12 - Colonel Daniel R. Anthony, editor, soldier, politician, is dead. After an illness of several months, death came to him at 12:45 this morning. Although he has been ill for a long time, and several months ago his life was despaired of, it is announced that heart failure was the final cause of his decease.

For a half century, Colonel Anthony has been a conspicuous figure in Kansas. He helped to shape the fortunes of the territory in the border ruffian days, being one of the most aggressive of the "free soldiers". He was intimately acquainted with such men as Thurlow Weed, Horace Greeley, and others of those days. His first journalistic work in Kansas was done half a century ago for Horace Greeley. He was the founder of the Leavenworth Times, and has always been its editor.

Colonel Anthony was born in Adams, Massachusetts, 80 years ago. He was a brother of Susan B. Anthony, the noted advocate of woman suffrage, and a cousin of George T. Anthony, governor of Kansas. His parents moved to New York State when he was small and there he grew up. His parents were Quakers and he began life as a clerk for his father, who was a cotton manufacturer, but he became fired with the free state cause and opened a correspondence with Eli Thayer, the Boston abolitionist. That resulted in his heading a party of free state men to Kansas. Hugh Cameron, the Kansas hermit of Lawrence, was one of the party.

No person has ever been more prominently associated with the history and development of Kansas for so long a period as Daniel Reed Anthony. He was the one connecting link between the struggles with the border ruffians of 50 years ago and modern politics in Kansas. During his 50 years of life in Kansas, he has at all times been a leader.

He went through many exciting incidents during the border struggles and at the breaking out of war, he helped raise and was made lieutenant colonel of the First Kansas Cavalry. He was afterward promoted to colonel of the regiment, and distinguished himself at the Battle of the Little Blue. While in the army, the fugitive slave question came up, and he handled it in a new and startling manner to some of the conservative union commanders.

While temporarily in command of a brigade in the Army of the Mississippi in 1862, owners of slaves were demanding the right to search for them in the Union camp. Col. Anthony issued an order in characteristic language, which said in part: "The impudence and impertinence of the open and armed rebels, traitors and secessionists and southern rights men of this section of the state of Tennessee in arrogantly demanding the right to search our camp for fugitive slaves has become a nuisance and will no longer be tolerated. Officers will see that this class of men who visit our camp for this purpose are excluded from the lines. Any officer or soldier of this command who shall arrest and deliver to his master a fugitive slave shall be summarily and severely punished, according to the laws relative to such crimes."

The issuing of this order caused a stir and Colonel Anthony was placed under arrest for insubordination when he attempted to carry out the spirit of it, after the return of General Mitchell, the regular brigade commander. Colonel Anthony was restored to his command on the introduction of a resolution into the United States Senate by Senator James Lane of Kansas asking for the facts about the case.

One of the most exciting times in the history of Leavenworth occurred while Colonel Anthony was mayor the first time. Some of Colonel Anthony's detectives seized horses belonging to Missourians, and the mayor denied the right of military authorities to search for them. General Thomas Ewing, Jr., was commanding the "district of the border," and after heated correspondence between them he declared martial law and had Mayor Anthony arrested and taken to Kansas City. A mass meeting of Leavenworth citizens was held, at which General Ewing was denounced. Mayor Anthony was released the next day and was tendered a reception on his return. In a speech he said, among other things: "Yesterday I was brutally arrested and marched out of town with two thieves at my side, followed by soldiers with cocked revolvers pointed at my back. Tonight I return to Leavenworth, my home, escorted by a committee of your best and most loyal citizens. Yesterday, martial law reigned in Leavenworth, today it is scattered to the four winds of heaven: yesterday we were despondent, today we are triumphant, the thieves who had me in arrest left in a hurry. Had General Ewing made the same haste when he left here in pursuit of Quantrell, with his enemy in front, that his detectives and soldiers made on an imaginary foe in the rear, Quantrell would not have escaped from the butchery at Lawrence with impunity."

The mayor at this period acted as police judge, and Colonel Anthony gave all the "Missouri border ruffians," as they were called, a "touch of high life." On one occasion, a wealthy Missourian came over and purchased a quantity of powder and lead, which was captured by the detectives as the old man was about to cross the river for home. The next morning, the Missourian was fined $100 on "general principles and for vagrancy." The Missourians would take a shot at Colonel Anthony at every opportunity in the way of showing their hatred.

Colonel Anthony's political career has been a long one and began early in his life in Kansas. During recent years he has given away to his son, D. R. Anthony, Jr., who was succeeding him as an active leader in Leavenworth politics. Colonel Anthony's political career can be summed up as follows:

• Nominated for the legislature twice and elected once
• Nominated for mayor seven times and elected three times
• Appointed postmaster of Leavenworth five times, serving 16 years
• came with a few votes of receiving the Republican nomination for governor in the 80s.

He was a delegate to practically all of the Republican state conventions up to the last tow or three, in which his son has succeeded him, and he was chairman of the state central committee during a number of campaigns. Three times he was presidential elector in Kansas.

Colonel Anthony's last appearance in a political convention was in the First District Congressional Convention in Holton last February. At that time he was nearly 80 years old, but he announced his determination to sit in the convention or know the reason why. During the convention he made a speech denouncing Congressman Curtis. It was at this convention that D. R. Anthony, Jr., was nominated in opposition to Mr. Curtis, but the contest board decided that Curtis' nomination was the legal one.

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Colonel Anthony first came to Kansas in 1854. After spending some time here, he returned to New York and told stories about Kansas which aroused interest in the east, and in 1857, Anthony came back to Kansas to remain permanently.

From the time he first landed here in 1854, he began to write for the New York Tribune, edited by Horace Greeley, and other eastern papers, and this led to his becoming an editor himself. His first venture in running a newspaper was when he started the Leavenworth Conservative in January 1861. The first issue contained news of the admission of Kansas as a state into the Union, and he carried a bundle of papers in person on horseback to Lawrence to inform the territorial legislature then in session at that place. Colonel Anthony brought and sold a number of newspapers during the 60s, and he always managed to get control of every opposition daily started in Leavenworth. For years, the Leavenworth Standard was run in opposition to him as a Democratic paper, but he eventually secured a majority of the stock in it, and two or three years ago he succeeded in combining it with the Times. Since then, there has been but one daily paper in Leavenworth.

Colonel Anthony was famous as "the fighting editor." He undoubtedly had more personal encounters than any other American editor. He always insisted that all of his fights grew out of his standing up for the right and against the wrong, and that none of his quarrels were for personal reasons. For 30 years, he carried in his body a bullet fired by an enemy as Colonel Anthony was entering an opera house with his wife.

His first trouble in Leavenworth took place on the day of his arrival from the east, 50 years ago. On that day, there was a "Free Soil" meeting in Leavenworth, and Colonel Anthony made a speech so radical in its nature as to astound even the followers of John Brown and the men fighting the border ruffians. The border ruffians immediately decided that Colonel Anthony was a dangerous man to have among the Free Soilers, and they decided to get "rid" of him, and shot at him three times that night as he was in his room about to go to bed. he returned the fire and a ball struck one of his assailants, whose life was saved by a heavy silver watch.

During the war times, Colonel Anthony and the noted Kansas "red leg" Col. Jennison had an impromptu duel. It grew out of the killing of some Confederate prisoners, which Anthony alleged was done by Jennison's orders. They emptied six shooters at each other at close range, but neither was touched, and the only person hurt was a stranger, who was standing in a hotel doorway when a spent ball struck him on the neck.

Colonel Anthony came near dying from a pistol wound inflicted by W. W. Embry, a rival editor, who in turn was killed by his partner, Thomas Thurston, noted desperado. This attempted assassination of Colonel Anthony occurred in May 1875, as Colonel Anthony was coming into the opera house with his wife on his arm. Embry was hiding behind a pillar and when Colonel Anthony came in stepped out and fired at him three times at close range. One ball took effect in his body, and regarding the case a medical journal said: "So far as we can ascertain there are no parallels in the annals of surgery of a man surviving such a wound."

Some years later, Thurston was hired to assassinate Anthony. The two passed on the street one day, and when about 30 feet away Thurston opened fire on Anthony. He missed but the bullet struck Lucien Baker, who was 100 yards away. This was long before Baker thought of going to the United States Senate. Baker was laid up for two months with the wound. Thurston fired again, but again he hit another man than the one he wanted, but the second man was not seriously hurt. By that time, Anthony, who was unarmed, had got away. Thurston pleaded guilty of assault with intent to kill, expecting to be immediately pardoned, but his pardon was not forthcoming for 10 years. His sentence was 18 years in the penitentiary. As soon as he got out of prison, he went to Anthony and told of the conspiracy to kill the fighting editor, saying that he had been promised $1,000 and had been assured that the governor would pardon him, but he had received only $300 and no pardon. He promised to serve Anthony ever afterwards.

From time to time, Col. Anthony's enemies set up the demand that he be prohibited from carrying a pistol. They generally did this when an opposition mayor was in power. On one occasion, after Col. Anthony had been assaulted, he went up and down the streets with a suspicious package in his hand. His enemies said it was a revolver, and they were afraid to go out for fear he would kill them. They caused his arrest for carrying concealed weapons, and a sensational trial followed. It was held in the council chamber, and the two leading lawyers of the city were employed to assist in the prosecution. A number of men swore that Col. Anthony was carrying a pistol to shoot them, and that he had it with him in the court room wrapped up in a piece of paper.

After two days in taking this kind of evidence, Col. Anthony took the stand in his own defense, and at the proper time unwrapped the package, which contained a lead pipe bent in the shape of a pistol. Cheer after cheer went up, and while the colonel held an impromptu reception, his enemies sneaked out. The bluffing of the "gang", as the colonel called them, with a "Quaker gun" was one of the triumphs of his life.

Frend of the Oppressed.

Col. Anthony made it a point through his entire life to stand up for the oppressed, regardless of religion or nationality. The poor and humble always found in him a friend. He was a great friend of the negro race. He once led a mob that rescued Charley Fisher, a fugitive slave who escaped from his master in Kentucky. Fisher was taken out of the court room from the United States officials during the progress of a trial to determine whether or not he should go back to Kentucky. On another occasion there was a riot the first time the negroes attempted to vote, but under the leadership of Col. Anthony they came out ahead. While Col. Anthony was mayor the second time, the white street laborers struck and refused to work because he gave work to negroes. The colonel was firm, and the two races were soon working side by side.

In politics, Colonel Anthony was always a fighter. One of the things which brought on many of his fights was his opposition to the voting away of bonds in Leavenworth city and county in the early days. He was one of the leaders in the fight that resulted in the retirement of his townsman, Alexander Caldwell, from the United States Senate. He was also largely instrumental in the defeat of Governor George T. Anthony for renomination as governor. Governor Anthony was a cousin of Colonel D. R. Anthony, but the two were enemies.

Colonel Anthony was never afraid to speak his mind and he usually spoke it in most pronounced terms. This was illustrated in his recent fight on Congressman Curtis. His opposition to Curtis was brought about by the demand of Mr. Curis that D. R. Anthony, Jr., throw at least part of the Leavenworth county delegation against the interests of Governor Bailey in the Wichita Convention two years ago. At that time, D. R. Anthony, Jr., was postmaster of Leavenworth. He knew the sentiment of the Republicans of Leavenworth County was overwhelmingly for Bailey, and he refused Curtis' demand. Curtis turned Anthony out of the post office and then the warfare began.

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From the Minneapolis Journal of Saturday, Nov. 12, 1904

Noted Editor of Kansas is Dead: Col. D. R. Anthony, Founder of Leavenworth times, expires suddenly today.

Leavenworth, Kansas, Nov. 12 - Col. D. R. Anthony, the noted editor of the Leavenworth Times and brother of Miss Susan B. Anthony, the woman suffragist, died at his home here this morning of heart disease, aged 80 years.

Daniel Read Anthony was born in South Adams, Massachusetts, Aug. 22, 1824. His father was a member of the Society of Friends and his maternal grandfather had fought in the War of the Revolution. young Anthony was educated in a common school at Battenville, New York, and in an academy at Union Village, New York.

In 1854, he joined a colony sent out to Kansas by the New England Emigrant Aid Society under the command of Eli Thayer, and helped to found the city of Lawrence. In 1857, he settled permanently at Leavenworth.

His War-Time Record.

In 1861, he became lieutenant colonel of the First Kansas Cavalry, afterwards the Seventh Kansas Volunteers. In June 1862, while in command of Brigadier General R. B. Mitchell's Brigade, he issued an order forbidding secessionists to search or his officers to allow them to search, his camp for fugitive slaves. He enforced the order and refused to countermand it when ordered to do so by General Mitchell. He was arrested, but afterward released and restored to active duty, after the matter had attracted the attention of the United States Senate and President Lincoln.

Resigning his place in the army, he returned to Leavenworth, where he was elected mayor in 1863. The city was then infested with thieves and lawless characters, and the new mayor began vigorous measures against these classes, going so far as to burn the houses and the part of the city in which they found shelter. He came into conflict with General Ewing and was arrested for interfering with the general's martial law orders. He was taken to Kansas City, but was brought back to Leavenworth the next evening under an escort of 10 citizens. Martial law was then revoked. The rest of his administration was marked by law and order and the rapid growth of the city.

Position as an Editor.

Colonel Anthony in 1861 established the Leavenworth Conservative. He gradually acquired control of rial papers until he had the newspaper situation in his hands. he then united the papers under his control under the name of the Leavenworth Times, now one of the leading papers of the southwest.

He was shot by an opponent in 1875, but made a recovery remarkable in the annals of surgery.

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From the New York Tribune of Sunday, Nov. 13, 1904:

Daniel Read Anthony, Editor and Proprietor of The Leavenworth Times, was born at South Adams, Massachusetts, Aug. 22, 1824. His father was a merchant, and after a common school education at Battenville, New York, he worked in his father's store and in a cotton mill. In 1847, he removed to Rochester, new York, and in 1854, he went to Kansas and became a resident of Leavenworth, engaging in newspaper work. He was an active anti-slavery man and abolitionist, and at the outbreak of the Civil War, he became a lieutenant colonel of the 1st Kansas Cavalry, in which he saw active service in Missouri and Tennessee. In 1863 he was elected Mayor of Leavenworth, and the following year, he became Editor of the Leavenworth Times. From 1866 to 1872, he was chairman of the Republican State Committee. In 1872, he was again Mayor of Leavenworth, and in 1873 he served in the State Legislature. From 1874 to 1885, he was postmaster of Leavenworth and in 1885 he was government director of the Union Pacific Railroad. He was married in 1864 to Miss Annie E. Osborn, of Edgartown, Massachusetts.

Colonel Anthony had a picturesque and exciting career both as a soldier and editor. While in the army in Tennessee, he issued an order forbidding any officer or soldier from returning a fugitive slave. For refusal to countermand this order he was arrested by order of his superior officers, but was restored to his freedom and his rank in six days. While Mayor he was arrested by reason of a clash with the Federal authorities, but the citizens of Leavenworth petitioned for his release, and he was set free.

In 1872, he was shot by W. W. Embry, a leader in a typographical union in a personal dispute. Colonel Anthony's subclavian artery was severed and he was in danger of death for days, but recovered. Embry was afterwards killed by "Tom" Thurston, with whom he was engaged in publishing a newspaper, and Thurston sought to kill Colonel Anthony, and fired a fusillade in the streets of Leavenworth, which endangered many persons and wounded two men, for which he was sent to State prison for 18 years.

Colonel Anthony and Colonel "Cy" Jennison had a pistol duel in the Planters' House over an editorial in which gambling was attacked. They met in the office off the Planters' House. Anthony shot first, and his ball struck Jennison in the leg near the thigh. Jennison replied, but merely chipped a piece off the desk. Anthony shot five times more without any damage, except to the furniture, and then ran. Jennison, who had risen to his feet, attempted to follow, shooting as he limped, but he could not go far, on account of his wound. Anthony reached his office and, getting another pistol, returned to the hotel as rapidly as he had left it. His voice was still for war, and he was grieved to find that Jennison had been removed to a surgeon's office.

There were several other encounters in which the fiery editor resorted to the use of firearms, but he killed only one man, a border ruffian named Satterlee. He once said of his shooting, "It isn't that I am a poor shot. Nor is the fact that I am still living any reflection on the marksmanship of the various gentlemen who have sought to end my life. I have had a very discouraging experience here in Leavenworth. I was walking up Delaware Street one evening at a time when my paper had been making a special effort to purify the political atmosphere of Leavenworth, and I had incurred the enmity of the 'gang'. Across the street was a crowd of 15 or more men who almost simultaneously opened fire on me. Not one of their bullets struck me, and I at once declared myself in the controversy, for I had a couple of revolvers in my pockets for just such emergencies. My assailants all ran into a doorway and in their hurry to escape they became a much confused and entangled mass of humanity. I emptied both my six-shooters into that doorway, and upon my honor, I never touched a man. I concluded that the bricks were much more deadly weapons than pistols."

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From the Omaha Daily Bee of Saturday, Nov. 12, 1904:

Colonel Anthony is Dead: Proprietor of the Leavenworth Times succumbs to Heart Disease

Leavenworth, Kansas, Nov. 12 - Colonel D. R. Anthony, the noted editor of the Leavenworth Times and brother of Miss Susan B. Anthony, the woman suffragist, died at his home here this morning of heart disease, aged 80 years.

Colonel Daniel Reed Anthony, who gained his title in the Union Army, was one of the last of a half dozen editors who did much to spread the fame of Kansas in its early days. He was for nearly half a century editor and proprietor of the Leavenworth Times, and during that time did much to shape the destiny of his state.

He was born at Adams, Massachusetts, and spent his early years in New York. He was intimately acquainted with Thurlow Weed, Horace Greeley, Senator Seward, and others in New York politics of that day. His first entry into Kansas was in 1854, when he lead a free state party to the Sunflower state. Soon thereafter, he became connected with newspaper work and up to the time of his death he was active in the affairs of the state. He had served both as mayor and postmaster of Leavenworth, as a member of the Kansas legislature, and in 1885 was made a government director of the Union Pacific Railroad. He formerly was a member of the advisory board of the Associate Press.

Colonel Anthony had been in ill health for several years. He was stricken with heart trouble last June. At that time, his condition became alarming,but he rallied and within a few days resumed his labors in the office of the Times. A month ago he was again attacked and despite his remarkable vitality failed to rally after several sinking spells.

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From the Topeka State Journal of Tuesday, Nov. 15, 1904

Miss Anthony Grieves: Death of her brother in Kansas affects her deeply

A Chicago paper says:

"It is a terrible shame that the women of the American government should be subject to the disgraces that they are compelled to undergo. To think that we women should be classed among persons of opposite race, color, previous condition of servitude and illiteracy. And still that is the charge against us."

Susan B. Anthony expressed herself yesterday in forcible language at the home of Dr. Frances Dickinson, in the Walton flats, at North Clark and Locust streets. Miss Anthony arrived in Chicago yesterday morning to attend the funeral of her brother, Colonel Daniel R. Anthony.

"You say you are a newspaper man, but Dan - well, Dan was one of the men - the newspaper men, who fought through the newspapers for the freedom of the country. But Dan was older..."

Then Susan B. Anthony faltered. There were deep lines on her face, which never had been seen there before. The face was just as sweet and gentle as ever, but it showed the agony she had undergone over the news of the death of the man of whom she thought more than anyone else in the world - her brother.

"You are too young ever to have been associated with Dan," she said. "But he was such a good brother. When the nation called for support he was one of the writers in the country who gave that support. He has died; God rest his soul.

"It is hard to think of anything else but him. But I will try. We thought so much of each other, he and I. He is dead now and I am going to perform the last rites. But it is hard to try to talk of anything else."

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From the Marshall (Missouri) Republican of Friday, Nov. 18, 1904:

Anthony Dead, Pioneer Kansas Editor expires at age of 80 - had a picturesque career; went to the Sunflower State in 1854 - he was prominent in politics but it was as editor that he was best known.

Leavenworth, Kansas - Colonel D. R. Anthony, the veteran Kansas editor and owner of the Leavenworth Times, died Saturday morning at 12:45 o'clock. His family had a brief warning that the end was near, and were with him when the end came. Death came to him quietly, and he passed peacefully away and without recognizing those around him. He had been very low all day.. Several times during the past week, Colonel Anthony seemed to have died, respiration ceasing for as much as a minute and a half, but he would suddenly draw a good breath and be apparently the same as before respiration ceased. His case has been considered a marvelous one. Death was due to a weak heart and general wearing out.

Several years ago, Colonel Anthony was shot through the aorta, and his heart had been weak ever since.

He leaves

• one son, Dan Anthony, Jr.
• one daughter, Mrs. Captain Koehler, now in San Francisco, and
• his widow.

His son stated, shortly after Colonel Anthony's death, that in all probability the funeral would take place Monday afternoon.

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