LECOMPTON, Kan. (AP) An 1890 painting of Kansas’ first senator, “Wild Jim Lane,” will be unveiled next month at the Lecompton Historical Society.
Lane’s descendants recently donated the portrait to Lecompton, where Lane lived during the Civil War.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Lane was a celebrated orator who fought to keep Kansas a free state. He was known as “Wild Jim” because his political opponents successfully characterized him as a bit loony.
The portrait was donated by Lane’s direct descendent James Shaler, of Massachusetts. It will be unveiled as part of a “Bleeding Kansas” history lecture series on Feb. 5.