Date of Award
8-1961
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
History
Abstract
The impetus for this study grew from another paper completed in April, 1957, entitled, "The Populist Party in Kansas," written for a class in American History. References to a Winfield, Kansas, newspaper, The American Nonconformist and Kansas Industrial Liberator, edited by Henry and Leo Vincent, appeared from time to time during the research. The Republicans in 1888 charged that the newspaper advocated anarchism; in 1890, however, the paper was a leading Populist journal. The charges grew out of a state-wide expose of a secret organization within the Union Labor party which involved the Nonconformist. The Republicans' assertions gained weight with a mysterious explosion at Coffeyville, Kansas, caused, it was said, by dynamite which the Vincent brothers intended to use to destroy their chief newspaper competitor in Winfield, the Winfield Daily Courier, edited by E. P. Greer. The Courier had been instrumental in the expose of the Videttes. The Nonconformist, on the other hand, charged the explosion to the Republicans, saying that their agents intended to plant the explosives in the Nonconformist offices, "find" them there, thereby proving the charge of anarchy. Both sides claimed that their opponents' plans went awry when the explosives discharged prematurely. In 1891, an investigation was conducted by the Kansas legislature to discover the truth in this matter.
Recommended Citation
Denton, Charles Richard, "The American Nonconformist and Kansas Industrial Liberator: A Kansas union labor-populist newspaper, 1886-1891" (1961). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 12.
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/etd/12
Comments
x, 145 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. Bibliography: leaves 141-145.