Sunday evening last our little city was shocked to hear the news of the death of one of its oldest citizens, Mr. S. C. Junkins. It is a true saying that "in the midst of life we are in death." During Sunday Mr. Junkins had remained at home all day and up to a late hour in the afternoon felt exceptionally well, when pain struck him in the left shoulder. He paid little attention to it and after eating his supper he sat around the room for a time when he began to feel bad and about eight o'clock retired. His wife and daughter May were reading when he left the room. He had been in bed but a short time when Mrs. Junkins heard him take a long, heavy breath and went to him when she saw that death had taken from her the one who had loved and protected her for years. She told her daughter, (Mat was 14 years old at the time) that her papa was very sick and that she must go to one of the neighbors and get them to go for a physician. This little girl did, but the time had passed when medical skill or human power of any kind could again bring back that which the angel of death had carried away.
Samuel C. Junkins was born August 8, 1830, at York, Maine, where he lived for several years and attended the common schools. While quite young (17) he went to Andover, Mass (Phillips Academy) and remained there until he finished his education. After leaving school he longed to see the world and started out with willing hands to do anything which was honorable to gain a living. Arriving in New York he concluded he would like to be a sailor and finally found employment in that line, and made one trip from New York to Liverpool and returned as a common sailor. One trip satisfied him and he quit the sea and found employment as a bookkeeper in the metropolis, where he remained one year. Then he went to Hardin county, Kentucky, and taught school for a time. Along about this time Kansas was one of the most prominently mentioned spots in this hemisphere, and he concluded that he would come to the land of the buffalo and deer that roamed over the prairies and grow up with the country. In 1858 in the company of his brother Edward, Mr. Junkins came to Kansas and located on Crooked Creek in this county (Coffee). He lived here several years and on March 11, 1862, married Miss Julia G. M. Tamblin.
During Mr. Junkins' residence in Coffee County he has held several responsible offices. In 1864 he was appointed deputy county clerk by Issac Cabbage and served one term in that position. In 1865 he was elected clerk of the district court and served two consecutive terms. In 1866 he was elected county clerk and served until 1870. He was county commissioner during the years 1860 and 1860. He studied law with Judge Sanders and in August, 1865, he was admitted to the bar. During the Price raid in 1864 Mr. Junkins was adjutant (staff officer assisting the commanding officer and responsible for correspondence) in Co. F. W. Potter's regiment. In November of 1867 he formed a partnership with Col. James Redmond for the practice of law, and the firm has remained so ever since. In 1876 Wm. B. Parsons, county attorney, resigned, and Mr. Junkins was appointed by Judge E. B. Peyton to fill out the term.
We have personally known Mr. Junkins since he located in this county. He was a man that cared very little for society. His life was absorbed in his profession. He was always a hard student and was one of the best posted men of the times. His useful and distinguished services to his constituents are part of the history of the times and dealt with the substance and not the form of things. In pursuit of a purpose he was ernest and sanguine and sometimes impulsively resentful of opposition, but he bore no malice and harbored no spirit of retaliation; and, although his prejudices, like all else in him, were strong, they were never beyond the reach of reason. Unmeaning formalities he neither practiced nor respected, and had no taste nor toleration for the mere tinselwork and embellishments of ceremonious display. All pretense, hypocrisy and affection and impostures in his intercourse with men he disdained all counterfeit graces, insincerity and mannerism.
The sudden death of Mr. Junkins should remind us that there is no moment of life when "the tail, the wise, the reverend head" may not be called to lie as low as the humblest. There is no time when our loved ones may not be called to taste the same anguished and to suffer the heart break which to-day afflict the stricken family. All of that is mortal will find its bed in dust "as the long train of ages glides away." Yet there is an immortal soul which sleeps not in lifeless clay. A spark of life from the eternal alter which never ceases to glow, destined to endless life and growth.
Mr. Junkins leaves a wife, daughter and two sons to mourn his loss. Wallace and Dexter are each engaged as conductors on railroads. Wallace lives in Dodge City, this state, and Dexter resides in New York City. They are both here. Mrs. May Shaw, who has made her home with Mr. Junkins family until a few weeks ago, came up from Anadarko, Oklahoma, where she is engaged as a teacher in the Indian schools the first of the week. Mrs. Fred Henley, of Gridley, is also here. Mrs. Shaw and Mrs. Henley are sisters of the deceased. The funeral will take place to-morrow afternoon at the Congregational church, Rev. Scarrow, officiating.
___
Robert1, Alexander2, Joseph3, Samuel4, Samuel5, Thomas6, Samuel C.7, Dexter E.8, Raymond D.9, Alan D.10, Kenneth D.11, Adam12, Robert13 Junkins
