The South American Colonization Company (or the time Kansas City tried to ship its homeless to Columbia to shovel guano).
Edward Bellamy’s best-selling novel Looking Backward¹ written in 1887 imagined America evolving into a socialist utopia by the year 2000. No book in its day — outside of Tom Sawyer or Ben Hur — gained more widespread appeal. So inspired was Irving “Curley” Newton Merrifield² he purchased a ticket to South America. There he spent three months scouting Venezuela, Columbia, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua for a site for his own Bellamy community. Merrifield followed the rich tradition of 17th Century utopian communities who saw America as the “New Atlantis.” He planned to call his colony New Hope.³⁴
Irving was a lifetime member of the American Baptist Missionary Union. He used his connections to negotiate a formal charter for the South American Colonization Company from fellow minister and Kansas Secretary of State Russel Scott Osborn in 1894 and then secured a twenty-year tax exemption and 9,000,000 acres of land grants from the Venezuelan and Colombian governments.⁵⁶⁷ The land was fertile and already contained many fine town sites. Additionally, should Irving secure enough settlers, the two countries would extend the grants to ten times the amount.⁸
Fortunately for Irving, he’d learned the art of fundraising and drawing a crowd at the feet of the master — his father, Rev. Austin Sherwin Merrifield.⁹ The senior Merrifield was a frontier pastor who’d founded the First Baptist Church of Garden City.¹⁰ He also helped secure endowments from wealthy patrons like the Rockefeller Foundation for the fledgling Grand Island (Baptist) College and Ottawa University.¹¹¹²
Young Irving’s idea was not without precedent and even had undergone some field testing. Earlier efforts by the American Colonization Society (also known as The Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America) founded Liberia by sending free-born and freed slaves back to Africa.¹³ Abraham Lincoln pitched the idea of Linconia: a colony of freed slaves relocated to Panama. Irving Merrifield first attempted to colonize Africa along similar lines in 1891¹⁴ before piloting a scaled-down version of communal living with a group of twenty Baptist families during the Cherokee Land Strip Run of 1893.¹⁵¹⁶ A group of unrelated Kansans founded a utopian society in Topolobampo Bay, Mexico, around that same time.¹⁷¹⁸
Alongside brothers Cyrus and Alton, Irving planned to change the world. The men “proposed to operate colonies in every possible state and nation. The guiding principle was the ‘Exaltation of the Golden Rule,’ and the ‘perfection of humanity,’ in pleasing conjunction with a ‘fifty percent profit to all investors.’”¹⁹Labor would substitute as capital, while the colony would issue its own currency for trade within the community and spending at local stores.²⁰
Irving’s South American plans made a splash in newspapers across the Midwestern and Southern states.²¹ Agents for the Colonization Company actively recruited shareholders who could acquire shares in the enterprise for one hundred dollars (slightly over $3,000 present value). “One of the inducements held out by the agents… was the possibility of each member to become wealthy by growing wheat with the aid of native labor at 15 cents per day.”²²
In the days leading up to Christmas in 1895, Irving was nine months past his deadline.²³ His house had burned down,²⁴ and he was desperate to meet his quota of colonists to “set sail for the land of monkeys.”²⁵ So he quit his pastorate at the First Baptist Church in Arkansas City, Kansas,²⁶and moved with his wife Laura to Westport, MO.²⁷ The couple took up residence in Kansas City for the winter as Irving resumed publication of a weekly paper known as the Evangel of Reform.²⁸ He published it alongside a monthly magazine known as the Trans-Mississippian in rooms 5 and 8 of the Gibraltar building at 818 Wyandotte.²⁹³⁰
With the ripple effects of the Depression of 1893 still reverberating through Kansas City, Irving unveiled his novel solution. On December 12th, 1895, Irving gathered two hundred and fifty homeless men in a meeting hall about the size of an oversized garage at №23 East Missouri avenue. There he proposed the formation of a Society of Brotherly Love.³¹ He loosely modeled the fraternity after the Brotherhood Society he helped found back in Boston, whose purpose was “the elevation of mankind by the principles and the practice of universal brotherhood.”³²
On the walls hung signs with crude painted letters:³³
“Rich Products– S. A. C. Co. Mahogany, Rosewood, Oranges, Lemons, Bananas, Gold, Silver, Diamonds, Corn, Coffee, Cocoa, Chocolate, Guano, Wheat, Rice, Sugar, Iron, Coal, Ice”
“Work and Wages for all the World. Apply at Office S.A.C. 216 West 5th street”
“2,4000,000 Acres for 1,200 men. Best chance to be Healthy, Holy, Hearty, Happy”
“You can have Free School, Hospital, Lectures, Dramas, Paintings, Sculpture, Music”
Walking through the room and offering greetings to ragged, shoeless men was Irving– tall with broad shoulders, dark hair, and eyes to match. He shook hands like a man who milked cows for a living. His dairy on West Fifth Street was also feeling the financial squeeze of supporting his philanthropic pursuits.³⁴ He gained popularity amongst the working class as a Populist Congressional delegate,³⁵vocal advocate for “free silver,” and supporter of presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan.³⁶
“Gentlemen, I have traveled over 15,000 miles through the Neglected Continent to bring you a golden opportunity.³⁷ The wonders of which I speak I have seen with my own eyes under the Southern Cross. There is a range of mountains sixty-two miles long that is grander than the Alps forming the Valle del Cauca. I’ve traversed mightier rivers than the Danube and witnessed broader savannahs than are found in Africa.”
Irving’s Spanish fluency and command of the local dialect impressed the men, adding a layer of intrigue and honesty to his claims.
“Ledges of gold and quartz abound. Some veins have an average width of fifteen feet with better-paying mines than are found in California, Colorado or Australia because the gold supply is practically inexhaustible. There are 200 varieties of fruits and vegetables which yield large profits in domestic and foreign markets. Land can be secured at $2 to $5 an acre, which, when planted with bananas and oranges, yields $200 an acre. Eight months after planting a banana, a crop is assured. It has been estimated that 35 million dollars have been made in this country on bananas alone.
The entire country is teeming with valuable resources. Over 50 million dollars has changed hands on mahogany, cedar, and rosewood, which is superior in quality and in price. The exportation of timber — including Peruvian bark — for the production of quinine³⁸ — would be capable of supporting settlers while crops are under cultivation.³⁹ Perhaps few persons are informed of the fact that not only coffee but tea may be raised in this country equally well with pineapples, cloves, cinnamon, oranges, lemons, and citron.
There are four classes of people, full-blooded Indians, claiming to come from the white race; secondly, a few Spaniards laying claim to Castilian parentage, prominent Jews of an industrious nature and a race of negro slaves many hundred years old. The natives are kind, gentle and not quarrelsome.
The town of Barranquilla is home to La Puerta de Oro de Colombia, what the Spanish call the ‘Golden Gate.’ It is an excellent shipping point with one of the most beautiful ports in all of the Caribbean, providing direct access for trade with New Orleans. Labor is paid at the rate of from $15 to $25 a month in currency. This would be equivalent to from $3 to $5 in American money. Fifty dollars in Columbian currency is worth $1 in gold. Women servants in the households work for $1 a month in gold. If an American should take $100 to Columbia, he would wake up a rich man.”
While Irving extolled the virtues of the southern hemisphere, a stocky man in his late 30’s sat towards the back of the room on a crate that earlier that evening served as a card table. Before the meeting, he introduced himself to the group as Bill. As Irving drew the crowd further into the story, Bill seemed to be studying both the speaker and the men’s reactions. He hung on Irving’s every word like an artist capturing the movement of light before applying the first stroke.
Following Irving to the stage was J. K. Morrison. Owing to his Ivy League education at Cornell,⁴⁰ his penniless companions saw him as “a rather superior being.”⁴¹He was a fellow populist and former captain in activist Jacob S. Coxey’s commonwealth army. Months earlier, Morrison marched on Washington to demand support for workers from President Cleveland.⁴² Reporters in the room noted the parallels between Coxey’s project and the scheme being pitched tonight.
“I know many of you have never heard of the South American Colonization Company before. It has been kept a secret for a long time. The movement’s headquarters is at Arkansas City, Kansas, but there are branch offices here and in other places. We have already pre-empted 3,000,000 acres of land along the Rio de Magdalena. We have another concession of 64,000 acres in South America. We propose to get coal and iron and silver and diamonds and such elegant woods as mahogany, teak, lignum vitae, rosewood and others.”
“The company is a joint-stock one, with 2,000,000 shares. The shares cost $10 apiece, and no one is allowed to have more than one. This is one-tenth of the cost of what agents are selling shares for on the open market, and your labor is your capital investment. We expect to start for South America by the middle of next April. The three colonies which are forming now will meet at New Orleans, where they will board a vessel which has been chartered for the voyage. The transportation will be free. The mouth of the Magdalena river is occupied with guano fields, and these we expect to work as soon as we reach the South American continent. Guano brings $35 a ton, you understand, and we expect to first support ourselves shipping it to New Orleans.”
“The Kansas City contingent will number some 100 or 150 men. All it is necessary to do is to have the colonies going. You see Mr. Merrifield has been on the ground and held a homestead for six months. He succeeded in filing the necessary papers at Carthagena and Caracas. The land we have secured has an altitude of about 4,000 feet, so it will not be nearly so unhealthy as one would suppose. As soon as we get acclimated, things will be alright. It will be healthier than it is on the Alabama rice fields. The inhabitants have a little malaria, of course, but it does not harm them. They get used to it.”
“We shall set up three colonies. The first will be at the mouth of the Rio de Magdalena and will be named Port Hope;⁴³the second will be one hundred miles up the stream and will be known as Evangelo City. The third will be called Port Fraternity. We have another little colonization scheme which is still in embryo, so we do not care to say anything about it. Between now and Saturday we shall hold a secret meeting to decide on further plans. The Society of Brotherly Love has nothing to do with the colonization scheme. Except that many of its members have signified their intention to join the movement.”⁴⁴
Following Morrison’s speech, the Society of Brotherly Love packed up the room, began taking off their shoes, hanging their hats and trousers upon the chandeliers, and piling up the chairs in the corner. Some of them busied themselves wiping the spots on the floor where they expected to sleep warmed by newspapers. In a few minutes, prostate men in all stages of dress and undress covered the floor. The smell was nauseating.⁴⁵
Morrison and Merrifield continued fielding questions from local reporters explaining that the men would establish a commune and sign contracts promising five years of work at eight hours a day.⁴⁶ They must turn in all lands and property they may acquire during said period to the common treasury. Strict obedience to the majority vote was required under the penalty of forfeiture of all legal interest, except dividend stock in said company. In exchange, the men would receive “free passage, board, clothing, amusement and enjoyments of life, as deemed best by the company.”⁴⁷Given that agents of South American Colonization Company had been recruiting individuals to purchase an interest in the venture for $100/share, getting shares in the venture at ten cents on the dollar with the ability to work off your investment promised quite the opportunity.⁴⁸
When your bed is a tobacco-and-mud stained floor, you don’t need too much time to sleep on such things. Ripe mangoes and tropical sun were far better than day-old bread and spooning Roger the plumber to keep warm. If that meant growing bananas in the tropics rather than breaking rocks in the Kansas City stone yard, then so be it. Half of the fledgling society’s 250 men enrolled and made plans to travel and send for their families later.⁴⁹⁵⁰
The Society enthusiastically replaced dairyman Delbert C. Miller with his local competitor Irving Merrifield — elevating Irving to the president of their new organization.⁵¹⁵² Rounding out the cabinet was secretary J.K. Morrison and John S. Crosby, a congressional candidate running on the Populist ticket in 1894.
The penniless club’s high hopes started to attract attention from the local press. Atop the bluff, at the site of the present-day City Market, is an illuminated, vertical sign perched atop the old limestone Junior Orpheum Theatre. Wedge-shaped, black iron supports secure a column encircled by a bead of light. Inside, capital letters descending from top-to-bottom read: M-A-I-N S-T-R-E-E-T. A reporter from the Kansas City Times hopped a streetcar departed from that location and headed north in January of 1896.
He reached his destination at the bottom of the hill where a brick, two-story building on the northeast corner of Twentieth and Main served as the Society’s headquarters.⁵³ Today the nearby Riger Hotel features a painted Monogram Whisky bottle reading: E.S.T. 1877. The reporter, who arrived shortly after midnight, was curious to see how the Society of Brotherly Love was surviving a “cold spell which makes sufferers of the warmest clad persons in town.”⁵⁴
A loud rap at the door aroused one of the sleepers, a young man, poorly clad, who admitted the reporter. As the door was opened, a rush of foul air came forth, sickening and disgusting. Inside were long rows of twisted masses of men, poor, forlorn, sleeping soundly, “spoon fashion,” and well sheltered from the biting cold outside. Three stoves kept the atmosphere of the room at a living heat but did not overburden anyone with warmth, and around the edges, near the doors and windows, it was rather chilly.
Upstairs the scene was repeated– only there were more men up there. All sorts of men these were, good, bad and indifferent– for the Society turns no one away, as long as he is sober and anxious to work. Seven men who failed to find even shelter at other charitable institutions in Kansas City were welcomed here with open arms, and the little food which the Society possessed was freely divided with the newcomers.
There has been much speculation as to the real purposes of this organization, and various theories have been advanced for its existence. Whatever be its motives, it is at least deserving of credit for its successful efforts on behalf of the homeless men of Kansas City. Its members declare they only ask for one thing– work. This they sorely need and ceaselessly seek, and the proceeds of every small job anyone gets goes into the common treasury. Out of this fund, and by the help of unsolicited donations, it is able to rent its present quarters, provide fuel and help to feed its members. The greatest need of the Society is clothing, and it is directing its main efforts toward the end of providing it.
Every evening some sort of entertainment is given to keep the wanderers “at home.” Last night Dr. Castleman and J.K. Morrison delivered addresses. Next Wednesday night ‘Hamlet’ will be given.⁵⁵
On the walls of the Society hung pictures of labor organizer Eugene V. Debs, “General” Coxey, and other celebrities. Men hung around playing cards on overturned crates. A sign on the wall stated the Society’s rules:
1. No smoking after 6 p.m.
2. No sleeping in the daytime
3. No spitting on the floor
4. No admission after 11 p.m.
5. No games will be allowed on Sunday.
6. The Sabbath may not be broken, for, while there is no religion connected with the Society, it is the wish of the officers not to offend believers in the faith.”
Artisans, mechanics, barbers, and musicians filled the ranks. Members believed that you need to nourish his soul in addition to providing for a man’s body. Leveraging their ample free time, the club launched a “Literary Lyceum” and a “Dramatic Club” that put on plays. They received support from the Populist’s club, who loaned them furniture in hopes of earning a few hundred votes from the brothers.
There was to be no poor nor rich. According to the dream of the Society’s most ardent reformer and recently installed commander-in-chief, J.W. Sykes, all men are equal and happy. The “W” in his middle name may have stood for William as the men all called him Bill. The enigmatic Sykes, who was as impoverished as the rest, joined the club the night of Curley’s speech.
Bill Sykes, also known as “Professor Sykes,” was a self-described phrenologist of Bohemian tendencies “about whom little is known.”⁵⁶ Lectures on phrenology were commonplace in that day, especially popular in Mormon circles in nearby Independence.⁵⁷ Another society member named Dr. Castleman was a phrenologist who’d spoken to the homeless the night of Merrifield and Morrison’s speeches. It is possible Sykes picked up techniques from Castleman and was happy to ply his new craft on a captive audience. Men gathered around and let Bill run his fingers through their hair, looking for bumps and cavities. He’d measure and ponder before serving up interpretations. Sykes would often predict a great future for them (potentially south of the equator). Not surprisingly, many of the members failed to live up to the prophecies and gradually became disillusioned with Prof. Sykes’s prognostications.⁵⁸
Brother J.K. Morrison’s love of liquor contributed to Sykes’s meteoric rise. Morrison was ousted from the club and removed from the board of directors for reasons of intoxication. The Society physically threw Morrison out of the building and told him not to return while promoting Sykes to club commander and business manager.⁵⁹
During Morrison’s absence, Sykes ramped up the fundraising as the ultra-Bohemian organization began soliciting donations in earnest for clothes and money to start their South American commune. However, plans hit a snag when rumors reached Sykes that solicitors about town were falsely representing themselves as members of the Society of Brotherly Love. Bill intervened and established a policy that all authentic solicitors would carry a card on their person with his name inscribed: “J.W. Sykes.”⁶⁰
Morrison returned undeterred by his ouster and delivered a speech likened to Rienzi’s address to the Romans.⁶¹ Three hundred men cheered, offering Morrison rounds of applause and slaps on the back. They welcomed him back with the reduced rank of Secretary of the Literacy Lyceum. The upcoming production of Hamlet and the Society’s need for a strong male lead may have factored into their generosity.
Unbeknownst to the men, while in exile, Morrison exacted a measure of revenge on his replacement.⁶² He broke into the Society’s headquarters and stole Sykes’s official stationery used to solicit donations.⁶³ Of all people to try and scam, Morrison set his sights on the mayor and chief of police — and succeeded. He collected $10 in donations under the auspices of buying tools for the ambitious to work a rock quarry. Instead, he used the funds to “purchase supplies of the most ardent beverage.”⁶⁴⁶⁵ When Sykes discovered the plot, he swore out a warrant leading to Morrison’s arrest by Patrolman Jim Lewis, who threw him into a dungeon.⁶⁶ The club’s reputation was badly tarnished. Headlines in the Kansas City Star read, “Mayor Davis Is Buncoed: A Bogus Member of the Brotherly Love Society Gets Money From Him.”⁶⁷⁶⁸
The tumult in the Brotherly Love Society created division in the ranks. “The Philadelphia idea upon which the original society was founded had been lost sight of in the jealousies, internal troubles, and bickerings of ambitious leaders.”⁶⁹ One of the primary reasons was that there were not enough offices to go around. One crowd wanted to handle all the finances and run things while the others did all the work and turned over their proceeds to the general fund.
According to the constitution and by-laws of the organization, all were required to do an equal share of labor. “The faction composed of those who claimed to do the most work moved into separate quarters and formed the Workingmen’s Club. The other faction, under the leadership of Generalissimo Sykes, blindly followed its leader, who renamed the group after himself, the ‘Sykes Club.’”⁷⁰
A meeting convened with both factions present. Irving Merrifield was reelected president, followed by the nomination of George Smith for V.P., both motions passed with little fanfare. However, when the motion to reelect Bill Sykes came to a vote, bedlam ensued. Like the apostle Judas, Sykes controlled the money box.⁷¹ The Workingmen accused him of squandering $40 in donations that members had entrusted to him, believing he would divide the spoils amongst the group. Sensing they were losing control, the Sykes faction yelled for the meeting to be adjourned, but they were overruled.
John Kane, the temporary chairman, called for a vote — with most members abstaining, it ended in a tie: 33 to 33. Before the tie could be broken, the “Sykes Club” picked up the chairs and other belongings of the Society and stormed out. They moved them to an old frame building near Twenty-fourth and Southwest Blvd.⁷² The power play essentially evicted the Workingmen’s club who could not afford to cover the rent without the Sykes club.⁷³⁷⁴ Finally, Irving Merrifield had enough. He washed his hands of the entire organization and began looking for other means of colonization.
“That Sykes was not in the Brotherly Love business for his health is evident from the course he has pursued since organizing a club of his own,” read the Times.⁷⁵ He turned his new headquarters into a 5-cent lodging house and charged members of the Workingmen’s club for the right to sleep in the building. Sykes received all rents and member’s contributions.
Two members of the rival “Workingmen’s club,” John Martin and Davis Norton, followed Sykes’s lead and tried to remove the remaining furniture belonging to the Populists club from the old clubhouse. Sykes swore out a warrant for the arrest of his former comrades. The arrested members of the Workingmen’s club told the judge at their trial that Sykes owed them money and that the chairs they’d collected were merely payment.⁷⁶
As the days passed, the solicitors’ contributions increased and found their way to Sykes. Despite constant prodding, Sykes refused to divvy out the funds. Finally, the men formed an investigative committee and discovered Bill hadn’t been paying the bills. A mutiny ensued, and the men scheduled a meeting for the following evening for Sykes to explain his conduct.
When Bill failed to appear, their leader was declared an absconder. The “Sykes Club” was reorganized yet again in February of 1896 as the Mechanic’s Mutual Aid association with John Reardon as president and Harry Lenox secretary.⁷⁷
As quickly as it had risen as a beacon of hope, the Society of Brotherly Love went crashing into the rocks. The fifty remaining members of “Sykes Club” began ignoring former Society rules, begging for money, and generally loitering about. To make matters worse, they occupied a building in the same block as the Adams elementary school. Members of the Society wrapped themselves in sheets to look like ghosts and jumped out from behind buildings to scare young girls on their walks home. A few men attempted to lure girls under the age of nine to come into their ramshackle home.⁷⁸
One such girl, named Clara Nichols, the daughter of a grocer on Southwest Boulevard, was grabbed but managed to wriggle free and ran back to the school and informed the teachers. By March of 1896, the Chief of Police decided to “wipe the socialistic community out of existence.”⁷⁹ The Society endured one final hardship the following week. The remaining brothers who’d managed to find employment in the Provident Association Stone Yard received notice that it would be closing its doors for good.⁸⁰
After being deposed for misappropriating funds, Sykes managed to square himself with the law, but his club members were not so gentle with him. The last mention of Bill Sykes, the phrenologist in the Kansas City papers, was on July 14th, 1896. Clarence Bailey and David Spots were fined for assaulting “J.W. Sykes, known as ‘Bill Sykes,’” the “Brotherly Love” institution president.⁸¹
Rev. Mayfield never gave up his dream of a Baptist utopia. First, he and his brothers purchased $27,000 worth of land near Sabine Lake, Texas. Then, they proposed to relocate 200 colonists to a new town called Harmony, where they would create a rival harbor with Port Arthur three miles to the north.⁸²⁸³ When that failed to take root, Irving took one last stab at a global effort to eradicate homelessness in Bakersfield, CA, in 1913 before his death at forty-nine in Los Angeles.⁸⁴⁸⁵
[1]: Edward Bellamy. Looking Backward, 2000–1887. Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1888. http://archive.org/details/lookingbackward01bellgoog.
[2]: Clearwater Echo. November 10, 1893. 1. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75592774/the-evangel-publisher-i-n/.
[3]: “A Bellamy Colony In South America.” Duluth Evening Herald. Duluth, MN: Minnesota Historical Society, 1895. 23. http://archive.org/details/jan2189501dulu.
[4]: Arkansas City Daily Traveler. November 27, 1894. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75582726/rev-i-n-merrifields-plans-for-a/.
[5]: “Brotherly Love Society.” The Kansas City Times. December 25, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63447680/society-for-the-unemployed/.
[6]: Arkansas City Daily Traveler. November 27, 1894. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75582726/rev-i-n-merrifields-plans-for-a/.
[7]: Arkansas City Daily Traveler. December 31, 1894. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75583934/rev-in-merrifield-speaks-of-his/.
[8]: “A Bellamy Colony In South America.”
[9]: Merrifield, Austin Sherwin. “Missouri Death Certificate.” Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, 1969 1910. [Database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Missouri Death Certificates, 1910–1969.
[10]: Blanchard, Leola Howard. Conquest of Southwest Kansas: A History and Thrilling Stories of Frontier Life in the State of Kansas. [Wichita, Kan.: Wichita Eagle Press], 1931. http://archive.org/details/conquestofsouthw00blan.
[11]: “Rev. Austin S. Merrifield, D. D.” Word and Way. November 9, 1916. Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75667829/rev-austin-s-merrifield-d-d/.
[12]: McKee, Jim. “Jim McKee: The Short History of Grand Island College.” JournalStar.Com. April 8, 2012. https://journalstar.com/news/local/jim-mckee-the-short-history-of-grand-island-college/article_259cf00a-a5b3-5f41-a563-2f6aefa8c297.html.
[13]: “American Colonization Society.” In Wikipedia, April 10, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Colonization_Society&oldid=1017070025.
[14]: The Chronicle. December 17, 1891. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75593493/rev-i-n-merrifield-seeks-to-colonize/.
[15]: “The Cherokee Strip.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat. September 9, 1893. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75593930/rev-i-n-merrifield-and-20-baptist/.
[16]: The Chronicle. December 17, 1891. 4. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75593493/rev-i-n-merrifield-seeks-to-colonize/.
[17]: “Topolobampo Bay Colony, Mexico — Kansas Memory.” Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/46993.
[18]: “Kansans Will Seek a Utopia.” The Alliant. January 24, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75592067/rev-i-n-merrifields-plans-for/.
[19]: “A Commonwealth Ideal.” The Ottawa Daily Republic. January 8, 1897. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75588774/commonwealth-scheme-of-rev-i-n/.
[20]: “Another Coast Town.” Galveston Daily News. February 25, 1897. NewspaperArchive.com. https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-feb-25-1897-p-5/.
[21]: The Athens Messenger and Herald. February 14, 1895. NewspaperArchive.com. https://newspaperarchive.com/athens-messenger-feb-14-1895-p-8/.
[22]: “Kansans Will Seek a Utopia.” The Alliant. January 24, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75592067/rev-i-n-merrifields-plans-for/.
[23]: “New Colonization Scheme.” Chicago Tribune. February 4, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75593027/new-colonization-scheme/.
[24]: Ottawa Daily Eagle. October 9, 1896. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75591590/rev-i-n-merrifields-house-burns-to/.
[25]: Arkansas Valley Democrat. March 22, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75593297/rev-i-n-merrifield-and-his-ship-to/.
[26]: “The Concert.” Arkansas City Daily Traveler. December 17, 1892. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75581608/the-concert/.
[27]: “Mr & Mrs I N Merrifield Return to Westport Home after Living in Kansas City.” The Ottawa Daily Republic. April 30, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75594260/mr-mrs-i-n-merrifield-return-to/.
[28]: Society, Kansas State Historical. Biennial Report of the Board of Directors of the Kansas State Historical Society. Vol. Vo. 9. Kansas State Historical Society, 1894.14. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Biennial_Report_of_the_Board_of_Director/.
[29]: “Personal.” Arkansas City Daily Traveler. March 26, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75580558/personal/.
[30]: “Personal.” Arkansas City Daily Traveler. January 16, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75580808/personal/.
[31]: Big Colonization Scheme.” Kansas City Daily Journal, December 25, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76239196/big-colonization-scheme/.
[32]: “Principles of the Brotherhood Club.” Boston Daily Globe. October 20, 1890. NewspaperArchive.com. https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-daily-globe-oct-20-1890-p-16/.
[33]: “Big Colonization Scheme.”
[34]: No Brotherly Love Shown.” The Kansas City Times. February 19, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63453214/no-brotherly-love-shown/.
[35]: “Policeman In Politics.” The Kansas City Times. June 21, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75589382/rev-i-n-merrifield-delegate-from/.
[36]: “Free Silver The Watchword.” The Kansas City Times. August 21, 1896. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63454116/in-merrifield-populist-leader-and/.
[37]: “Christian Church.” The Ottawa Daily Republic. February 9, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75594003/under-the-southern-cross-and/.
[38]: A malaria treatment that became a 19th-century panacea amongst traveling doctors.
[39]: “Kansans Will Seek a Utopia.” The Alliant. January 24, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75592067/rev-i-n-merrifields-plans-for/.
[40]: “Big Colonization Scheme.” Kansas City Daily Journal, December 25, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76239196/big-colonization-scheme/.
[41]: “No Brotherly Love Shown.” The Kansas City Times. February 19, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63453214/no-brotherly-love-shown/.
[42]: “Liquor Caused His Fall.” The Kansas City Times. January 7, 1896. 8. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63473920/dr-or-professor-sykes-phrenologist/.
[43]: Appears in the article as Port Hoke
[44]: “Big Colonization Scheme.”
[45]: Ibid.
[46]: Arkansas City Daily Traveler. November 27, 1894. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75582726/rev-i-n-merrifields-plans-for-a/.
[47]: “Brotherly Love Society.”
[48]: The Athens Messenger and Herald, February 14, 1895. 6. https://newspaperarchive.com/athens-messenger-feb-14-1895-p-8/.
[49]: Ibid.
[50]: Arkansas City Daily Traveler. November 27, 1894. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75582726/rev-i-n-merrifields-plans-for-a/.
[51]: “Big Colonization Scheme”
[52]: “Fined for Selling Adulterated Milk.” Kansas City Daily Journal. November 7, 1895. Genealogy Bank. https://www.genealogybank.com/nbshare/AC01201119024234081701619135659
[53]: “Bound To See A Ghost Walk.” The Kansas City Times. January 9, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75259095/bound-to-see-a-ghost-walk/.
[54]: “Happy Without A Cent.” The Kansas City Times. January 4, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63475579/happy-without-a-cent/.
[55]: Ibid.
[56]: “Liquor Caused His Fall.” The Kansas City Times. January 7, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63473920/dr-or-professor-sykes-phrenologist/.
[57]: “Phrenology and the Latter Day Saint Movement.” In Wikipedia, March 30, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology_and_the_Latter_Day_Saint_movement.
[58]: “President Sykes Absconds.” The Kansas City Times. March 4, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63446776/president-bill-sykes-jw-sykes/
[59]: “Joy At The Penniless Club” The Kansas City Times. February 1, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63454690/secretary-of-brotherly-love-society/.
[60]: “Bound To See A Ghost Walk.”
[61]: Ibid.
[62]: “Joy At The Penniless Club”
[63]: “One Brother Takes French Leave.” The Kansas City Times. January 29, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63455287/brother-bill-sykes/.
[64]: “Mayor Davis Is Buncoed.” The Kansas City Star. January 31, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75728688/mayor-davis-is-buncoed/.
[65]: “No Brotherly Love Shown.” The Kansas City Times. February 19, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63453214/no-brotherly-love-shown/.
[66]: “One Brother Takes French Leave.” The Kansas City Times. January 29, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63455287/brother-bill-sykes/.
[67]: “Mayor Davis Is Buncoed.”
[68]: “Mr. David Admits The Bunco.” The Kansas City Star. February 6, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75728722/mr-david-admits-the-bunco/.
[69]: “No Brotherly Love Shown.” The Kansas City Times. February 19, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63453214/no-brotherly-love-shown/.
[70]: Ibid.
[71]: John 12:6.” Accessed April 17, 2021. https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/John%2012%3A6.
[72]: Listed in “President Sykes Absconds” as 24th and Holly Street
[73]: “No More Penniless Clubs.” The Kansas City Times. March 6, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63453561/sykes-society-workingmens-club-shut/.
[74]: Ibid.
[75]: ““The Needy Will Suffer.” The Kansas City Times. March 13, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63453712/workingmens-club-must-find-another/.
[76]: “Two Men Fined for Assaulting ‘Bill Sykes.’” The Kansas City Star. July 14, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63444849/jw-sykes-aka-bill-sykes-of-the/.
[77]: “A Commonwealth Idea.” The Ottawa Daily Republic. January 8, 1897. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75588774/commonwealth-scheme-of-rev-i-n/.
[78]:“Another Coast Town,” February 25, 1897. NewspaperArchive.com. https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-feb-25-1897-p-5/.
[79]: “Bakersfield Californian, Apr 18, 1913, p. 7.” Bakersfield Californian. April 18, 1913. https://newspaperarchive.com/bakersfield-californian-apr-18-1913-p-7/.
[80]: “I. N. Merrifield Was Son of the Late Rev. A. S. Merrifield.” The Ottawa Herald. August 15, 1917. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75587244/obituary-for-rev-i-n-merrifield/.
