In 1891, the Farmers Council meets for the last time in Topeka, Kansas. Thaddeus Elridge is more than ready to dissolve the council and return to fight in the south. 'This man has promised us Heaven and given us only Hell,' he thunders at 'Sockless' Jerry Simpson. 'It is high time we stopped listening to his golden words and started fending for ourselves. I, for one, will deal with the Union.' He led about half of the council out of the chamber, a dissolute Simpson weakly calling after them to 'hang together, lest we hang separately!' His invocation of Benjamin Franklin does nothing to sway Elridge's faction, and even those left in the council with him, with a couple of exceptions, withdraw their support. The Kansas rebellion has broken.