school in 1863, he diligently studied until he graduated from the Toledo, Iowa, high school.
Concerning his first intimation of the study of law, The Capital Commonwealth, (white) of Topeka, Kansas, says: "In 1874, Judge N. M. Hubbard, who had been watching the career of young Waller, and who sympathized with a plucky, struggling youth, sent for John, who had no acquaintance with him, to come to his office. John was astonished, for he could not conceive what so eminent a man and jurist as Judge Hubbard wanted with him; but he called as requested. After being closely interrogated by the judge on several important literary subjects, he threw back the large folding-doors of his commodious office and pointed John to his immense legal library and offered him its free use, of which he availed himself for three years, when he was admitted to the bar in October, 1877.
"Mr. Waller came to Kansas May 1, 1878, and was admitted to practice in Judge Robert Crozier's court in the First judicial district in September, 1878, since which time the people of Kansas have known him."
Mr. Waller is an acknowledged leader in the Republican party and has held many prominent positions in that party. He was placed at the head of the Republican electoral ticket in Kansas, at the last presidential election,—an honor never before accorded an Afro-American in this country. Suffice to say, there were numbers of whites who were crazy for the honor. At the election Mr. Waller carried every county, save two, in his state. During the campaign there was a greater demand for his services than for those of any other man in the state, as the fact that he delivered fifty-one speeches for the state and national ticket will demonstrate.
Mr. Waller established The Western Recorder, March 10, 1882, and published it for three years. The first few issues
