The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Jayhawker

JAYHAWKER, a name originating in Kansas during the slavery and anti-slavery warfare; applied to a few Free State men who organized a system of retaliation against proslavery outrages. Governor Lane of Kansas, in 1861, declared that &ldquo;the people of Kansas were neither thieves, plunderers, nor jayhawkers.&rdquo;