Note: James King Belk and his wife Charity (Palmer) were prominent Liberal residents present since the formation of the town. King had a first marriage, mentioned in J. P. Moore’s book on Liberal, which caused something of a scandal as his first wife had purportedly believed him to be dead, whereas he was very much alive and had remarried to a Charity Palmer and moved to Liberal. Steve Richardson of the Cawker City Hesperian Historical Society wrote asking if I had heard of him and was able to say that I had. His interest was due connections between Cawker and Liberal. A George W. Chapman is one citizen of Cawker who was alert to Liberal in the early 1880s and was prepared to donate his collection of geological specimens to the academy there if the citizens of Cawker did not provide a suitable building for it and a public library. Another resident of Cawker with a tie to Liberal was William Belk, a brother of King Belk. Thus this series, Steve having sent me several articles published on it in 1920-1921. All related posts will be found under the tag “Belk”.
Thanks to Steve Richardson for the below from the Hiawatha Daily World.
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Hiawatha Daily World
October 17 1921
MUCH OF BELK CASE TO BE IN DEPOSITIONS
Belk case that will be tried in November term of court will have nearly all of its sensations in depositions. This is the case in which a Mrs. Belk-Rogers and 2 sons in California are working to secure a large estate left by King Belk to his widow, Charity Belk, at Liberal Mo. Mrs Belk-Rogers alleges that King Belk deserted her in California 50 years ago, returning to Hiawatha, former home of the Belks, later went to Liberal, where he was married without being divorced. Mrs. Belk in California married again to a man named Rogers. Her 2 sons took that name. Charity Belk takes position that Mrs. Belk and sons are imposters. King Belk accumulated property worth $50,000.
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