Page:Bench and bar of Colorado - 1917.djvu/24

20 had they not meted out justice, the communities might as well have been turned over to the lawless element. They, more than the courts organized in accordance with the law, either Kansas or Jeffersonian, were responsible for the maintenance of law and order.

Kansas and Jeffersonian courts held regular sessions in Denver and other towns of the region for several months. Gradually the influence of the government of the territory began to wane. The people began to realize that they had made a mistake and acted contrary to law when they had organized a territory, instead of letting Congress attend to the matter. In addition, the men in the mining communities refused to recognize the territorial "government" and pay the poll tax which was ordered to produce revenue with which to defray the expenses of the government. Through their own courts they were enabled to administer justice and regulate their own affairs to their entire satisfaction. They did not need the territorial government or its courts.

When the time for the second election of officers of the territorial government arrived, Jefferson territory had been abandoned by most of the people living within its boundaries. Out of a population of more than 25,000 less than a thousand went to the polls and cast their votes. Shortly after this election the people of Eastern Kansas Territory adopted a constitution for a State of Kansas, which was to extend west to the 102nd meridian, thus leaving out practically all the territory embraced by the Territory of Jefferson.

Far-seeing men, who realized that the time had come for the organization of a territory in accordance with the laws of the United States, interested President Buchanan and Congress, and in February, 1861, Congress passed the bill which created the Territory of Colorado, with boundaries corresponding with those of our state today. Jefferson Territory, and with it the judicial system which had been created under it and all of the laws passed by its legislature, passed out of existence in June, 1868. The last act of Robert W. Steele, the "Governor," was a proclamation asking that all