The University Daily
KANSAN
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Section 3 City Lifestyle
Dart-throwing competitors are hopeful of sharpened interest in board game
By ANDREW de VALPINE Staff Reporter
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday night,
the addicts flock to Boottls. 84 Vermont St.
These addicts do not care alcohol, though they say drink helps, nor are they the narcotic type, stumbling about in a daze.
Ronn Johnson, 289 N. Michigan St., was one of eight people who helped organize the game into a film.
Fortunately for their sense of competition, there is an organization, part league in the area where they compete.
These self-acknowledged addicts have an even more urgent need, the need to be on target. They
Organized dart-playing in Lawrence, as opposed to the recreational variety played in basements, can be traced to virtually one man. The dart player, a former Lawrence resident, Johnson said.
"Actually there were two or three people responsible." Johnson said.
But it was Rainey who brought the game over from England after a stint in the service and got to play.
his friends interested in it, he said.
When Rainey returned from England, Johnson owned Dirty Herbies, which was at 75 Massachusetts St.
"I put up one board, and two weeks later we had four boards up." Johnson said.
After a fire destroyed Dirty Herbies three years ago, the dart players had to pack up and find a new refuge. They found it at Bogarts, then on Eighth Street, Johnson said.
"When I started having darts in my bar, I went around to other bars in town to see if they would too, but they all said that it was too dangerous," we said. "And pool cues and pool cues are more dangerous than darts."
Bogaris now sponsors four teams in the Kansas City Darts Association League.
The game as it is played by the league consists of n separate matches, and each match repre-
sems one point, said Richard Rawlings. 138 Kentucky St., captain of Bogats Blues.
Three different games of darts are played: 301, cricket and 701.
In 301, one player of each six-member team competes; in cricket, two members of each team compete, and in 701, three members of each team compete.
The first nine games of the match alternate between 301 and cricket. For every two games of the same type, one team must win by more than 2 goals.
The last two games are 701, in which all the team members compete.
Willa Dean Hailer, 2008 Emerald Drive, a member of the Bogarts 8, a team in the highest division, said that in the future there would possibly be a dart league for Lawrence.
Dart boards have gone up at the Eagles Lodge and the Veterans of Foreign Wars buildings, she
"The interest is there, they are receptive to it,
and they may field teams in the future," she
Currently, Lawrence's dart teams, all of which are sponsored by Bogats, have to play in the Kansas City league, which is fine with Mrs. Haller.
"There is more competition, and it's stiffer," she said. "It's not limited to just one city this way."
Upon entering Bogarts, there is no mistaking that it is the dart player's haven. Four dart boards are on the north wall, with adjacent chalkboards for keeping score.
Johnson said another board would be added to replace the bar's pinhole machine during the tail end of the race.
The long space reserved for darts is cris-crossed by throwers as they retrieve their mis-
Monday night was league night, and as match time approached, the ambiance thickened with
Jim Haller, police detective by day and dart-trower by night, said that sportspainter was caught in a stray ball.
but there is no animosity toward the opponent, he said.
"I've never seen tempers flare," he said. "People get upset at themselves rather than the opponent. You take your hostilities out on the board."
Johnson said one of the attractions of the game was its immediate satisfaction.
"I do it for therapy. Three darts and it's immediate glory, or whatever," he said.
Some people throw for frustration," one player said, groaning after a particularly bad round.
In any event, mutual respect and admiration among opponents pervade the game.
Among teammates, the sense of working for a common cause creates a closeness while throwback can reduce that sense.
You have people from all walks of life on a team, from college kids to businessmen," she aid.
"When you're throwing darts, you're very close."
Johnson said the reason for the closeness of the team was that each player felt his teammate's success or failure, and that often one player's successful make up for the other player's bad throws.
"Once you get started, you can't stop." Johnson said. "Once you throw three, you can't stop."
Johnson and Rawlings both admit their addiction to the game.
"I'm an addict. I love it," Rawlings said. "I want to lead the life of a dart pro.
"Drunk every night and making big bucks. As for making the big bucks by playing professionally, Rawlings said that some professional players, such as Dick McGinnis, are sponsored by dart manufacturers and sent to tournaments around the world.
And that is not mentioning the tournament money itself. A forthcoming event in Hawaii is to host a charity golf tournament.
Lawrence has a tournament year before the regular fall season begins, Rewilings said.
Mark Baudler, Lawrence freshman, demonstrates the proper form for throwing darts recently at Bogart's.
'Black Fridav' when Quantrill rode into town
By JOHN A. REICHLEY
By JOHN A. REICHLEY Staff Reporter
"Black Friday" in Lawrence was not the day
grades were posted last semester.
On Aug. 20, 1863, during the Civil War, Lawrence suffered a devastating raid.
The raid was led by William C. Quantrill, the infamous pre-war "burr ruffian" and later a Confederate guerrilla leader. Quantrill carries the epithet "bloodiest man in American history," and his actions in Lawrence that hot summer day rank among his bloodiest.
QUANTRIL WAS 24 years old when the Civil War began. He had lived in Kansas for several years, including a stay in Lawrence. According to some accounts, he was born with a personality that caused him to enjoy the suffering of others. The pre-Civil War wars along the Missouri-Kansas border allowed him to nurture that quirk.
IN LATE 1862, in recognition of his services, his band was formally formed into the Confederate service. He was immediately branded an outlaw by the Union, and a price was put on
Possibly because of his previous troubles in Lawrence, Quantrill issued a proclamation to the federal forces in Kansas in the spring of 1863. It said that "if they did not stop burning and robbing houses, killing old men and women," he would "in return paint the city blacker than Hades and make its streets run with blood."
When the war began he shewed with the South and formed a band of guerrillas that was irregularly attached to the Confederate Army. His band raided communities, robbed mail coaches and summarily executed supposed Union sympathizers.
Between 1857 and 1863, working sometimes as a school teacher and sometimes as a gambler, he was accused of crimes such as horse stealing, theft and murder, while living in Kansas.
On the evening of August 20, Quantrill headed his band toward Lawrence. Estimates of the number of men he had vary. One source stated 360, another said 450. All were guerrillas except for two Confederate colonels from Missouri. Three of the riders were killed because infamous in their own right later; Frank James and the Younger brothers, Cole
QUANTRILL, HOWEVER, was serious in his threat. In mid-August he sent a spy, Fletcher Taylor, to spend a week in the city disguised as a stock trader. Taylor made careful notes and reported that "the idea of a raid by Quantrill was derided; the streets were broad and good for charging horsemen; and the hour for the venture was at hand."
The proclamation was not taken very seriously by the 2,000 citizens of Lawrence, and no soldiers were detailed to protect the city. Fewer than 25 Union militia were there, and they all boys not old enough for the regular Union Army.
included all the males, even children, in selected families.
and jim.
THE CAPTAINS AND lieutenants carried "hit lists" of known Union sympathizers who were to be shot on sight. Some names on the list
Although the large group of riders was seen by several people many miles from Lawrence, all attempts to warn the city were in vain. The raiders struck at dawn, and many of those murdered early in the morning were shot down in their night clothes.
One of the guerrilla officers was Harrison Trow, then 20, whose account of the raid was later outlined in a book, "A True Story of Chas. W Quantrell." For some unknown reason Trow spelled Quantrill's name with an "e" rather than with the correct "i."
In his book, Trow admits being one of the older men who did most of the killing,' and we are told that he was a "villain."
THE ATTACK WAS from the east, and as outlying farm houses were passed, any males caught were immediately shot and all buildings were demolished, but those wearing jewelry were robbed.
The guerrillas intent is to kill as many people on their hit list as they could, as well as any other targets of opportunity, and to burn Lawrence to the ground.
The main businesses in the town were along both sides of Massachusetts Street south to Warren Street. Only two buildings in this doomed area survived.
MANY HOMES ON Rhode Island, New
Hampshire, Tennessee and Kentucky streets
The citizens of Lawrence might have thought the ordeal would never end, but at its onset several persons had escaped to ride for help. Shortly before 9 a.m. a lookout on Mount Oread spotted a large column of Union troops headed toward Lawrence from the east, he warned Quantrill, and the word was passed for the raiders to retreat.
"From citizens of Lawrence who have arrived here for supplies and medicines, I have gathered the following particulars regarding the burning of that city by Quarrillt's guerr
"The list of killed and wounded, as far as ascertained, numbers some one hundred and eighty, the majority of whom were killed instantly.
While the killing and burning went on, the raiders got fueled for their job by drinking plundered whiskey. Quantrill rote a horse and man to retrieve Ourem Oread to relax and view his men's work.
"The names of all the killed cannot be given now. The houses that remain standing are filled with the killed and wounded, who belong to all classes of society."
ON AUG. 24, the New York Times ran a front page story date页结 Leavenworth, Aug. 22.
"But one hotel is left standing in the place, and Quannillar trudged this in consequence of his having made his home there some years since his expense; but its proprietor was shot by his men.
The Sack of Lawrence had ended.
"AMONG THE RUINS of the burned houses, the charred remains of victims are constantly being
"The loss at Lawrence is not less than two millions of dollars; and will fall heavily on the New York and Leavenworth merchants."
In his account, Trow says that property loss amounted to $1,500,000, that at least one thousand people were killed and that 189 buildings were destroyed.
AUTHOR WILLIM E. Connelly, in his book "Quartillant and the Border Wars," published in 1930, says that a Union general who visited New York would have been out of Gettysburg ... but the sight was not
sickening as the one which the burned and soaked city of Lawrence presented."
The guerrillas accomplished the raid with the loss of only one man, Larkin M. Skaggs, a former minister from Missouri, who his first raid as a member of Quannil's band.
He was taken to the hospital of a military prison in Louisville, Ky., where he died June 6, 1865. 27 days after he was shot.
sucked city of Connelley said "The exact number killed was never known, but it was about 150, many of them of the best citizens."
Staff Writer
By ANN LOWRY
Staff Writer
Ghosts of Quantrill's victims live on
the actual terror lasted only four hours
Quantrill was relentlessly hunted throughout Missouri but was not caught. He went to Kentucky, where he survived the Civil War, but not by long.
Although the murders and arsons committed by William Clark Quantrill and his cohorts in 1863 are shrouded by cobwebs of history, the gruesome stories haunt some Lawrence citi-
They say ghosts frequent their Civil War-era houses.
"Every time I'd walk up the stairs I'd get this really terrible feeling," said Jan Widener, 170
In May 1865 he was overtaken by a cavalry patrol and shot as he tried to mount his horse. The bullet paralyzed him from the waist down.
Wildgen's house is documented as the site of one of the many murders peppering a map of the city.
When Wildden bought the house and remodeled it, she asked the wallpaper hangers to rub extra hard on that wall, but the bump staved.
THE STAIRS ARE directly above the spot where the front porch used to be before the door.
"He would come out of the wall and come down the stairs, which is just about where he was."
Albach was sick in bed Aug. 21, 1863, when Quartrill and his raiders came in search of the blood of every man in Lawrence they could find.
ACCORDING TO HISTORICAL documents,
George Albach, the owner of Die Gernania
alternative medicine firm.
Although Alacha's firm pleaded for him to be spared because of his condition, the raiders ordered him brought to the front porch, shot him and burned the stone-based structure.
Finally, neighbors informed her that the turn in the wall was the coat spot where former neighbors were sitting.
A researcher later told Wildiden that ghosts transmitted through the mind rather than the body.
And when Wildden hired a man to refinish the floors of the house, the man swore he had heard a ghost scream like someone being murdered. The three men were dead.
Franklin Shontz, professor of psychology,
said, "Ghosts represent the undead. They're
the souls of people who've died but whose soul,
or some part of it, hasn't."
Soul needs funerals for them to know they are dead and to move on to the next world, said Shontz, who teaches a course about psychology and the supernatural.
"If somebody is murdered, if there is a disaster, it's especially hard for the soul to get used."
"When so many people die so suddenly, there must be forces hanging around because they haven't been put to rest.
"Certainly the souls of those murdered had no time to prepare for the next life."
THE 150 OR MORE people that Quantrill and his raiders killed were startled out of their sleep, attacked by bandits and rudely inched on both sides of Massachusetts Street.
"The dead lay along all the streets,some of them so charmed that they could not be recognized and could scarcely be taken up," wrote David Drayley in his book, "A History of Lawrence."
The dead were unceremoniously piled in a temporary morgue, the old Methodist Church at 7th and Vermont streets. Many carpenters worked on the ceiling of their beds, so coffins were makeshift at their tops.
"Many had to be buried without the formality of even a box. Fifty-three were laid side to side in one long trench on the hill west of town. But many were buried in private yards with the thought of removing them later on." Cordley wrote.
The men of the town found little mercy among the bushwhackers.
SEVERAL BLOCKS NORTH of Albach's house, on the edge of a ravine, lived John Reed, his wife and his 2-year-old son. A friend of theirs, named Gates, ran to them and told Reed to
Both men hid in the cellar, but, panic stricken by the sounds outside, Gates ran out of the cellar and into the underbrush of the ravine. Raiders caught up with him and bludgeoned him to death with the ends of their rifles.
"It sounded as if someone was running full speed away from something, then stopping right on our front porch," she said.
A former resident of a house still standing in that neighborhood, who asked her identity be concealed so as not to alarm the present residents of the apartment, made false claims that night spent in the house.
When she left her bed to look out the window, no one was in sight. She did not tell her husband, who was sitting upstairs.
When she finally mentioned the noises to her husband, he confessed he had been listening to
but crawled back into the water.
The woman said the footsteps sounded about
two to three times each week, between 2 a.m.
and 3 a.m. but she never found a cause.
ALTHOUGH THE WOMAN said it could have been a live person running, she never found out if it could have been a soul seeking release.
She still wonders.
The Sara Williams:
Shontz said it took living people receptive to the idea of ghosts to provoke uncanny occurrences.
"Most of these things exist largely because people relate to them," he said. "If there's nobody in them, haunted houses aren't haunted."
"Ghost legends are legends about people-live people and dead people."
Wildgen she was told about her ghost the day she signed the papers to buy her house in 1978, but she found the idea interesting instead of threatening.
"It really doesn't scare me any more," she said. "After I redecorated I never had the feelings again."
THE ONLY PROBLEM she had has, she said, is that from time to time small objects, such as a key and a mechanical pencil, have disappeared when she is alone in the house, only to reappear in strange places months later.
"If that’s all he does, shoot, he can stay around." Wildigan said. "It was his house long
Wildlife and the other woman may never find out whether their experiences have been changed.
Shontz said the study of the supernatural was growing
"This is a whole area of human experiences that is real and we haven't studied," he said, adding that the study could be "very useful."
"Perhaps as consciousness expand, there will be more phenomena. That's a danger of learning."
MEANWHILE, the "undead" of Lawrence may take some comfort in the fact that, though Quantrill escaped his rampage here uncaught, federal officials caught up with him May 10.
He was severely wounded as he attempted to flee and was taken to Louisville, where he died.
His skull was recovered from a fraternity that was using it as part of an initiation rite, and now his bones, or what is left of them, lie unburied in a Topeka museum.