Y^ - 
 
 Kansas 
 
 
 
Glass TAjL-^ 
 
I 
 
K^NS^S Iisr 1856 
 
 llf^^^^^ f ''''''' f '^'' ^'i^'^Ses m Kansas ^ since the appoint- 
 ment oj the Kansas hivesttgatimr Committee, and not embraced in 
 their Report to the House of Representatives^ 
 
 FROI ACTUAL OBSERVATIOx\, AND THE TESTIMONY OF EYE-WITNESSES. 
 
 BY AN OFFICER OF THE COMMISSION. 
 
 In April, 185C, immediately preceding the 
 arrival of the Committee of Investigation, sent 
 out by the House of Representatives, the news- 
 papers published in^ind neai-the Territory were 
 failed with articles calculated to excite the feel- 
 ings of a portion of the population of the Terri- 
 tory, and or Missouri, against the Committee. 
 Although recommending that no violence h<- 
 used, but that they be tolerated, and treated 
 with silent contempt, these papers at the same 
 time declared the appointment of that Committee 
 to be an insult to the people of the Territory 
 and styled a majoriiy of its membei-s fanatical' 
 abohtionists, who were coming there to establish I 
 a worse than Roman Inquisition among them ! 
 ^oth^ng occurred, however, to produce excite- 1 
 ment until the day after thf Committee had pro- ' 
 Ceeded to Lecompton, to copy the election record, i 
 there _0n that day, Saturday, April I9th, Sam- | 
 uel J. Jones, then acting as sheriff of Douo-!,,. | 
 ^ounty, proceeded to Lawrence, to arrest Saraue! \ 
 iN. Wood, for aiding in the rescue of Jacob Bran- 
 son last November, some five months previous 
 it was this rescue of Branson which had been 
 made the pretext, by Jones, for the invasion last 
 fall. At that time, Mr. ^food had several times 
 placed himself so that Jones could have arrested 
 mm, Wood being desirous to test ia his Own 
 person the validity of the laws of the Territory 
 _=-<or some reason, Jones had never made anr at- 
 tempt to arrest him, until the Committee of In- 
 vestigation had reached the Territory. He then 
 went info Lawrence, and, finding #ood in the 
 street, went up to him, and, catching him by the 
 <;ollar, told him that he must go with him. Wood 
 ^^siced permission to see his wife, which Jones re- 
 lused,^ Wood said, if he could see his wife for a 
 few minutes, he would then go with the sheriff 
 without any resistance. Upon Joneses refusal,' 
 VVood pulled himself away from him, and marie 
 nis escape. No violence was offered to the 
 sneritt by any one, and no assistance rendered 
 VVood, except by some few persons passing be- 
 tween the sheriff and Wood, giving the latter an 
 opportunity to get away. 
 Sheriff Jones then returned to Lecompton, and, | 
 
 by falsely representing to the Governor that he 
 I had been forcibly resisted, by a large body of 
 Mrmed men, in the execution of a civil process in 
 the city of Lawrence, endeavored to excite him 
 to take such steps as would facilitate the accom- 
 plishing of certain purposes, which appeared to 
 lie cherished by the Pro-Slavery party in the 
 erritory. In this he succeeded, and the Governor 
 declared. With an oath, that the people of Law- 
 rence wanted war, and they sliould have it, and 
 he would not leave one to tell the tale. 
 
 The next day, Sunday, Jones proceeded again 
 to Lawrence, accompanied by three mounted 
 men, all armed, and rode into town just before 
 I iionn, while most of the citizens were attending 
 I church. In a short time, many of them gathered 
 , around Jones and his posse, and seemed inclined 
 ! to laugh at and make sport of them. Jones 
 j failed upon them to assist him in making some 
 j arrests of persons whom he charged with'rescu- 
 j ing Wood the day before. He showed no war- 
 I rant against any one, and the people made no 
 ) move to asssist him, but apparently considered 
 I u a subject of much mirth. After remaining in 
 i the town a short time, without makino- any ar- 
 I rests, he and his posse started off, whenlhey were 
 I greeted with groans from the crowd, then araount- 
 I ing to fifty or sixty persons. He rode back to- 
 wards them, and addressed some words to them 
 He started off the second time, and was groaned 
 iit as before. 
 
 He^ returned to Lecompton, and represented to 
 tlie Governor that he had been again resisted in 
 Lawrence by an armed mob. This was false as 
 no arms could be seen, except those worn by him 
 and his posse. The statement, however had its 
 effect upon the Governor, who, it was currently 
 rumored, first sent to Missouri for assistance, but 
 afterwards countermanded that order, and then 
 
 sent to Colonel Smnner, at Fort Leaven worth, for a 
 company of dragoons, to assist the sheriff in 
 making arrests. 
 
 0:i Wednesday, April 23d, Jones again marched 
 into Lawrence, with a company of twelve drai:oons 
 trom Fost Leavenworth, under the command of 
 Lieutenant .Mcintosh, The Committee of Investi- 
 
gation had come to Lawrence, having completed 
 their labors of copying the records at Lecompton, 
 and had commenced their first session, for the 
 purpose of taking testimony. While Sheriff Jones 
 was making his arrests, which were made with- 
 out any difficulty or resistance, the time of the 
 Commiitee wns taken up by arguments, speeches, 
 &c., during all of the day, so that, when the time 
 for closing the day's session had arrived, no op- 
 portunity liad bee'n given for the examination of 
 a single witness. Much occurred during the day, 
 calculated to e.xcite the people of Lawrence.^ The 
 manner in wliich Jones made his arrests, in one 
 instance walking down the street before the room 
 in which the Investigating Committee was hold- 
 ing its session, holding his prisoner by the collar 
 with one hand, while in the other he held a cocked 
 revolver — his threats, his blustering manner, his 
 treatment of his prisoners while conducting them 
 to their place of confinement — his declaration 
 that, if he had the power, he would make every 
 citizen of Lawrence get down on his knees, and 
 kiss the Territorial laws every night before he 
 went to bed— all this, and much more of the 
 same character, was but too well calculated to 
 inflame the passions of a people who felt con- 
 vinced that an opportunity only was wanting, to 
 bring upon their'devoted heads the whole power 
 of the Territorial Government, for their injury 
 and destruction. Still, no resistance was offered 
 to Jones and his posse of United States troops ; no 
 interference of any kind was attempted by the 
 citizens of Lawrence. He proceeded with his 
 arrests, and, after completing them, instead of 
 removing his prisoners, with his posse, out of 
 the town, to the prairie, where there was a much 
 better place for pitching the tents of the sol- 
 diers than within the city limits, he placed his 
 prisoners in a house in the very centre of the 
 town, and his posse camped just behind. The 
 most of those he arrested, were arrested be- 
 cause they had not aided him, the Sunday previ- 
 ous, in making arrests. 
 
 In the evening, as Jones was walking about, 
 near the tents, some one fired a pistol at him, the 
 ball passing though the leg of his pants. Not- 
 withstanding this, and notwithstanding he had 
 done all he could, to all appearance, for no other 
 ourpose than to provoke some outbreak on the 
 part of the citizens of Lawrence, he still took no 
 steps to find out who had fired at him, or even 
 to guard against a second attempt. But he went 
 into one of the tents around which there was no 
 guard, and while in there, was shot by some one 
 from the outside ; and even then no effort was made 
 to discover and secure the assassin. The wound- 
 ed man was taken at once to tlie Eldridge House, 
 and every attention was shown him, not only by 
 those of his party, but by the citizens of the town. 
 One of them, a young man of the name of Stew- 
 art, who was afterwards murdered, volunteered 
 to go to Westport, a distance of forty miles, to 
 carry a dispatch to Mrs. Jones, informing her of 
 her husband's condition, and rode all night on 
 that errand. 
 
 General Whitfield at once declared that the 
 Committee must leave Lawrence, and hold their 
 sessions in some other place ; that the Pro-Slavery 
 
 party could not' appear before the Committee 
 there, as their lives would be in danger, were they 
 to do so. Major Oliver, one of the Committee, 
 declared that the Committee must remove to 
 some other place, or else break up altogether, for 
 he would not remain in Lawrence three days 
 longer for all the Territory. It is but just to 
 Maj'or Oliver, to say that subsequent events led 
 him to entertain a different opinion, and he man- 
 fully avowed his mistake. The Commission did 
 not" leave, and in a few days General Whitfield 
 returned. 
 
 From the course that Jones and others pursued, 
 many were led to believe that the whole proceed- 
 ing was intended solely for the purpose of break- 
 ing up the Commission. Jones, with his posse of 
 United States dragoons, came into Lawrence just 
 when the Committee was holding its first session 
 for the purpose of taking testimony ; while Jones 
 was making arrests, and that, too, in such a man- 
 ner as would most likely provoke the people of 
 Lawrence to resistance, the time of the Commit- 
 tee was frittered away with debates and quib- 
 bling concerning the manner of conducting the 
 inve'stigation, without examining a single witness- 
 As soon as Jones was shot; the cry was raised 
 that the Committee must leave Lawrence for some 
 other place, as it was dangerous to remain in 
 Lawrence, after, as was alleged, one of its citi- 
 zens had attempted to assasinate one of the offi- 
 cers of the Territory, though no step was taken 
 to secure the assassin at the time of the firing, 
 when, by doing so, it might have been found that 
 the shooting had been done by some one other 
 than a citizen of Lawreuce. There certainly was 
 much ground for the belief, entertained by many, 
 that the whole was a preconcerted plan, for the 
 purpose of preventing the investigation of the 
 Commission, or, failing in that, to provoke the 
 citizens of Lawrence to some outbreak, likely to 
 prejudice them in the opinion of the Committee 
 and of the country; that Jones and his party did 
 not desire to find out the assassin, but preferred 
 to charge the assassination upon the citizens of 
 Lawrence, rather than take any steps likely to 
 discover by whom it was done, for fear that by 
 so doing it would appear that the people of Law 
 
 rence were guiltless. And had the Committee, by 
 leaving Lawrence at that time, given evidence 
 that a resiard for their own personal safety was 
 of higher^ importance to them than the labor they 
 were sent to perform, is it unreasonable to be- 
 lieve that similar steps would have been taken 
 to induce them to leave any other place in which 
 they should be holding their sessions, whenever 
 the "law and order" party, as they styled them- 
 selves, should consider it for their interest to do 
 
 so ? 
 
 To show their disapprobation of the attempt 
 upon the life of Jones, the citizens of Lawrence 
 held a public meeting the next morning, and de- 
 denounced the affair of the night previous as 
 a cowardly assassination, and appointed a com- 
 mittee of their leading citizens to discover the 
 assassin, and have him brought to justice. 
 
 The Committee continued its labors undis- 
 turbed, until they had proceeded to the town of 
 Tecumseh. At that place, some steps were taken 
 
by the Territorial authorities, which eventually 
 Jed to scenes of brutality aud violence, lawless- 
 ness and disorder, robbery and pillage, arson 
 and cold-blooded murder, such as this country 
 never before witnessed-and all done by the 
 law and order" party, and under the plea of 
 respect to the laws. 
 
 The Committee had been taking testimony in 
 regard to the elections for eight days. So far 
 as testimony was taken, it went to show, most 
 conclusively, that the Missourians had taken a 
 most active part in the elections, and carried 
 them by their votes. Governor Reeder had been 
 m attendance upon the Committee durin-r all 
 their sittings, and greatly aided them iu their 
 myestigatiors, from his thorough knowledge of 
 the_ facts connected with the transactions in 
 various parts of the Territory, his knowledo-e of 
 those who could best testify to the circumstances 
 connected with these transactions, and his leoal 
 skill aud ability in conducting the examinations 
 He was present at the request of the Committee 
 and his absence would greatly retard their invest- 
 igations. 
 
 When the Committee went to Tecumseh, on 
 Monday, May 5th, Governor Reeder accompanied 
 them and continued to assist them in their labors 
 On the morning of Tuesday, the 6th, William 
 i'ane lately from Georgia, then acting as deputy ' 
 marshal, came to Tecumseh with a summons tor 
 Governor Reeder to appear at Lecompton, for 
 the purpose of giving testimony before the grand 
 jury tor Douglas county, then in session at that 
 place. Governor Reeder declined going, on the 
 ground that he was then engaged before the Com- 
 mittee ot the House of Representatives, in a mat- 
 ter ot vastly more importance than any testimony 
 lie could give at Lecompton. 
 
 On Thursday, May 8th, the Committee returned 
 to Lawrence, and resumed the taking of testi- 
 mony there. The Committee was huldin.. their 
 session in a room in the Eldridge House, o°r Free 
 btate Hotel, as it was called by some. While 
 Governor Reeder was engaged in examining a 
 witness of the name of Joseph Stewart, Deputy 
 Marshal Fane came into the room, with an at- 
 tachment purporting to be issued by Jado-e Le- 
 compte, against Governor R«eder, for contempt 
 OJ court, lu refusing to obey the summons served 
 upon lam the Tuesdayprevious. Governor Reeder 
 appealed to the Committee for protection, refer- 
 ring to his position as contesting Delegate ; to his 
 being in attendance upon the Committee, at their 
 request; and to sundry defects in the document 
 purporting to be a writ of attachment. He asked 
 Deputy Marshal Fane if he was to consider him- 
 self as served with the writ. The deputy mar- 
 shal said that he might so consider it if he 
 pleased and advised him to attend him, sayin- 
 If he did not do so, he should report the circum- 
 stances and facts to the court at Lecompton 
 
 liy this time, the room in which the Committee 
 was holding Its session was nearly filled with 
 persons, mainly citizens of Lawrence, who had 
 seen the marshal come into town, and go into the 
 room and were naturally desirous to see what 
 was being done in there. They were unarmed, 
 qniet, and peaceable, and though evidently auY- 
 
 ious in regard to the result, yet made no demon- 
 strations of hostility or interference towards the 
 marshal. 
 
 The members of the Committee consulted to- 
 gether concerning the aj.plication of Governor 
 l.eeeder for protection. Mr. Sherman said, that 
 the Committee had been sent out to perform cer- 
 tain important duties ; that the presence of Gov- 
 ^ ernor Reeder was very necessary to enable them 
 o carry on their investigation. Mr. S. said, that 
 he was individually of opinion that Governor 
 Keederwas privileged from arrest under the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, being a contesting 
 Delegate, as much so as he himself was. Still 
 If he himself was sun.raoned to appear before a 
 justice of the peace even, he should obey the 
 summons. He concluded by stating that the 
 Committee had determined to make no decision 
 whatever in the matter, but leave Governor 
 Reeder to decide for himself what course he 
 should pursue. Major Oliver followed in a few 
 remarks, in which he said that he thought the 
 Committee had no jurisdiction in the matter at 
 all. Individually, he said, he was of opinion 
 that Governor Reeder was not privileged from 
 arrest any more than any private citizen. He 
 said he was sorry Mr. Sherman had expressed 
 I any opinion about the matter; but, havino- done 
 so, he gave his individual opinion also. Mr 
 Howard said, the Committee were sent out to 
 take testimony, and not to make judicial deci- 
 sions. Individually, he was of opinion that 
 Governor Reeder was privileged from arrest, and 
 lus presence was necessary to the proper con- 
 ducting of the examinations before the Commit- 
 tee. But there was nothing for the Committee 
 act upon at that time, supposing that the ac- 
 tion of the judge, in sending the marshal there 
 with a wTit of attachment, was not intended to 
 show any disrespect to the Committee, or for the 
 purpose of embarrassing them in their investiga- 
 tions, ho action by the Committee was neces- 
 sary, though, under the resolutions appointing 
 them, tuey had the right and authority to arrest 
 any one obstructing their action, and send him 
 t^o Washington, to be dealt with by the House of 
 Representatives. The Committee would take no 
 action whatever in the premises at that time, 
 but leave Governor Reeder to decide upon his 
 own course. Some demonstrations were made 
 to applaud during Mr. Howard's remarks, but 
 they were prompily checked by the chaiiman 
 and ofhcers of the Committee. 
 
 Governor Reeder said that, under ordinary 
 circumstances, he would attend the marshal and 
 plead his personal privilege before the court But 
 under then existing circumstances, he beiieved ' 
 I ills person would be endangered if he permitted 
 nmself o be taken to Lecompton, and therefore ' 
 he wotild then and there assert his privilege 
 |;nd refuse to attend the marshal; and as he 
 hrm ly believed he had the law on his side he 
 would warn any man, that if he undertook to 
 arrest him, it would be at his peril. 
 
 At the close of Governor Reeder's remarks 
 three cheers were proposed for him by some one 
 m the crowd, but the chairman promptly pre- 
 vented any demonstration of the kind The 
 
marshal then left the room, and proceeded to 
 Lecompton. No demonstration of hostility or 
 resistance was made to the marshal, or to any 
 one, by any person in Lawrence. Goverror 
 Reeder merely said, that if any one attempted to 
 arrest him, it wonld he at his peril ; but, as there 
 was no attempt, no resistance was offered. 
 
 The Committee resumed their examination of 
 witnesses, and continued it during the day, with- 
 out farther interruption. 
 
 The next dav, but two of the Committee were 
 present, Jlajor Oliver having left town ; and 
 neither General Whitfield nor Governor Reeder 
 were present. The Committee, however, pro- 
 ceeded with their investigation as usual. 
 
 During that and the following days, ru- 
 mors prevailed in town, that armed forces were 
 gathering at Lecompton and about Lawrence, 
 threatening an attack upon and the destruc- 
 tion of the latter place. On Saturday, the 10th 
 of Jlay, the Lecompton Unicn appeared, contain- 
 ing a grossly-misrepresented account of what 
 had transpired in the Committee room the 
 Thursday previous, charging the majority of the 
 Committee with openly counselling the excited 
 and armed mob then present to resist the laws, 
 with speaking in terms of disrespect of the judi- 
 cial authorities of the Territory, and by their 
 course endeavoring to excite the people of Law- 
 rence to open rebellion. This totally false ac- 
 count was copied far and wide in the Pro-Slavery 
 papers of the Territory and the State of Mis- 
 souri, and Avas held up as the true exposition of 
 the views and course of the Committee — thus en- 
 deavoring, as far as possible, to excite the Pro- 
 Slavery party in the Territory against the Com- 
 mittee. From that time, during the stay of the 
 Committee in the Territory, the Pro-Slavery pa- 
 pers there were filled with insulting and untrue 
 declarations and statements concerning the 
 course of the Committee, and many of the papers 
 did not scruple to recommend personal violence, 
 against the majority of the Committee. 
 
 On Sunday, May 11th, the citizens of Lawrence 
 held a public meeting. In view of the many ru- 
 mors concerning the gathering of armed forces 
 for an attack upon their town, and appointed a 
 committee to address a communication to the 
 Governor of the Territory, informing him that 
 they were reliably informed that bands of armed 
 men were gathering for the purpose of attacking 
 their place, and calling upon him, in the name 
 of the people of Lawrence, for protection against 
 such bands by the United States troops at his 
 disposal. 
 
 This communication was drawn np by the 
 committee, and taken to Lecompton by Captain 
 Samuel Walker, on the morning of Monday, the 
 r2th of May. On his way np, he fell in with 
 some men, who represented that they were going 
 to Lecompton, to get some commissions of Gov- 
 ernor Shannon, for some men who were in a 
 Captain Saunders's company of Georgians ; that 
 the Governor had sent them some 150 United 
 States muskets and rifles, which they would get 
 that night at Franklin ; that they were deter- 
 mined to destroy Lawrence, in spite of the Gov- 
 ernor or Colonel Sumner ; that Shannon had 
 
 given the matter up to them entirely, and they 
 intended to make a Mormon affair of it, and not 
 leave a Free State man in the Territory — and much 
 more to the same effect. They then fell in with 
 two men, one of whom was Mr. Whitlock, for- 
 merly a member of the Territorial Legislature, 
 who knew and recognised Walker as a Free State 
 man ; and after some questioning of Walker, they 
 all rode off rapidly towards Lecomjston. As 
 Walker approached the town, he was informed, 
 by one of his neighbors, that there was some 
 commotion in town, in consequence of what had 
 been told by some men who had just rode in, and 
 it would be dangerous tor him to go in there ; 
 and offered to take the letter to the Governor, 
 and bring the answer to his house. To thi.-;, Walk- 
 er consented; and while on his way to his neigh- 
 bor's house, he was pursued and fired upon by 
 the men who had been riding with him on his 
 way to Lecompton. Some three hours after that, 
 the reply of the Governor was handed to him, 
 and he brought it to the citizens of Lawrence. 
 
 In his reply, the Governor wrote that there 
 were no forces gathering around or approaching 
 Lawrence, except the legally-constituted forces 
 of the United States marshal and the sheriff of 
 Douglas county, and that he should not interr 
 fere with either of those ofHcers, in the discharge 
 of their official duties ; and that, so long as the 
 citizens of Lawrence maintained a military or- 
 ganization to resist the laws, he should not in- 
 terfere to save them from the consequences. 
 
 On Sunday, May 11th, the United States mar- 
 shal issued the following proclamation: 
 
 '■Proclamation to the People nf Kansas Territory. 
 
 " Whereas certain judicial writs of arrest have been 
 directed to m^ by the first district court of the U. S , &c., 
 to heexecijleil wiihiii the cou"ty of Douglas; a'ui whereas 
 an atteiiipi to execute them by the U. S. depuiy marshal 
 was viiil' ntjy resisted by a large number of tlie citizens 
 of Lawrence iind as there is every reason to bi'lieve 
 that any attempt to execute these writs will be resisted 
 by a large body of armed men : IVow, therefore, the law- 
 alndiuK ciiizensof the Territor. are commanded to be 
 and appear at Lecompton as soon as practicalilc. and in. 
 numbers ^^uflicicnt for the proper execution of the biw. 
 
 "Given under my hand, ihis llth day of M:iy, 1?56. 
 -I. B. DONALDSOiN. 
 
 U. S. Marshal of K. T. 
 
 '■No liabilities for expenses will be incurred by the U. 
 S until their consent is obtained.-' 
 
 The latter sentence was omitted in the first 
 copies of the proclamation that came to Law- 
 rence. 
 
 Previous to the issuing of this proclamation, 
 and doubtless in anticipation, bodies of armed 
 men began to collect at Lecompton, Franklin, 
 and other places near Lawrence, and many 
 threats were made, that they would destroy the 
 town of Lawrence, and drive every Free State 
 man from the Territory. 
 
 The citizens of Lawrence, and the Free State 
 party in the Territorj^, were without those leaders 
 to whom they had been accustomed to look for 
 advice and counsel. Dr. Robinson, while on his 
 way down the Missouri river, had been lawlessly 
 and violently taken from the boat Star of the 
 West, on which lie was traveling, by an armed 
 mob, and was at that time a prisoner among 
 them. They failed, however, to obtain the test- 
 imony that had been taken before the Committee, 
 
the threads thnt Ur,,i k.„„ L..,. ^".^^ I ^*^'"^^°'°St^eii' names, and told him that MilleW 
 
 iid 
 
 I,- i-£- ""'"-"''" '-""»i^4"^"^e 01 tnreats upon after Afilier tu ,t n 
 
 ^^':^^:LS::^;!e-ir^=i.rid£Br -- -- --so;;^: 
 
 all these clemonstrations and tS eats semedn k. V^ '^'^ l^^"^' ^^'"^^'- '^'''^k to their camp, and 
 be directed, appointed a committee o safe" and thl nSu 'hT ''''T' ''f'' ^^^'""^ ' °^^-^ 
 also held public meetino-s, to take into cons der tent wL f -T' ^''"'^ ''^'^^^ ^« ^he officers' 
 
 atioa what course would be bestX them to t2 ' "" *"A'' *^^'^ P^'^^'^' ^^^fore a jurj of 
 
 pursue, under the existing state of things Whe. IZZJ^T/^T^^'- '' 1- '^'^'^^^'^''^^ -'-^ as 
 they saw the proclamation of the United State? • I™ ' ? .r n'' ^°*'"^ ^^' prosecutor. The 
 
 marshal, filled as it was with exa^. 4ed ac^^ 
 
 counts and misstatements of what had tran' nl.T^ ^f.™''"^' '" ^^<'^''^S Free State princl- 
 pired in Lawrence, thcv held a nnhlio 1 . ^ ' ?°*^ ^-''^'"- ^ ^^^'^e State paper. Witnesses 
 
 and appointed a comm'it e t V en t ZIZ aT7h"'™f ^;^"/' 7'^° '^^"'^'^^ '° ^is Free SoTl o, 
 ward a communication to the S ha! whkh I Sn e I'SI tliem, Abolition principles, '&c 
 thej did, as follows: ' ""^''^ ^"'"f testihed that they knew his parents in 
 
 they never did own any, but were regarded as 
 Abohtionists there ; and his father had once been 
 tarred and feathered for Abolition sentiments 
 Miller was himself examined at length, before 
 this self-constituted jury, and while his examina- 
 tion was in progress, two Pro-Slavery citizens of 
 - :-.- -" ■■ I Lawrence, Mr. James Christian and Dr Garvin 
 
 .ne,r oi;!;:?::;';^'.,:^- ^ ^^f ^'f-^> -p^n hearing of Miiier-s'c^;;^; 
 
 your.seii; or any p.^r^^;^, for Lecompton, to endeavor to obtain his release 
 dire ourselves to ««.=, I and had been taken prisoners, were brouaht 
 into camp. They testified to the general good 
 character of Miller, and the many warm frifnds 
 he had made among the Pro-Slavery men of tli« 
 territory. The case was then submitted to the 
 jury, after argument from Major Wilkes for the 
 prosecution, and from some one who volunteered 
 for the defence, The prisoner was then conducted 
 back to the guard tent, while the jury were left 
 to agree upon their verdict. In the course of 
 fialt an hour, the prisoner was re-conducted he- 
 
 , "Lawrence. Miry 12 1S56 
 
 yoL,r/4,'' Zl-,\Yu)^V^ ''^" vour proc-lamalion.issued by 
 yo»r^, ir. clrttt-d nth May, mst., and also have reliThl,^ in 
 fon„Ht,o:.. .l„s morning. ,h:.t lar^e bod^s o7/nned ^ne " 
 
 to'a^!'"^' """^'^ "• '^ ^"■' "" "lisunt'erstandina-, we be^l,-ave 
 
 what ire*'*tht''''Jh'.'''' *^'"" ^■'' '"''5' ''^ relinbly infoniitd.) I r'" i--&'^^-=, ^"o I'ro-oiaverv Citizens oi 
 
 ecutiou of any legal nrocess l)V v 
 
 acting- under vou^ We -Uo nL,i,r,r'„:,'.*; "' "■"> i"'""*"" 
 
 yo.ir called upon, u^d't^X/'^^t^]^,^^^ 
 
 ab^n' cul^^n' a^^f oT' '" '•" "'''-^-'"^in^ and law- 
 
 uesirov the town and drive off the piii/en* r\r 
 
 operate wah ihe.n for th,-, m^mtenance of the place I f *i rV ^ ' "^ ""^ ^-^ui.uucteu oe- 
 
 ordei, and cjuiet, ol the community in which we live ^°''^ ^^^"'- ^^ fo""^! them standing with thei- 
 
 " ' "■' -SKkT MORRO.V ' f .i!" '^'f ^''- ";^'' '''^''' "P°'^ ^^''''S placed be- 
 '■1:vman'aTlkn°''^- ?'■^'^'^'!!! '^]fy ■"f"'-™^^ him that the\-erdict was 
 
 ^ -JOHN HUrcHINSON. ,. "f't gu'lty, because his parents had been Abo- 
 
 l- ^ T>o^Awsos. u. s. Marshal for K. Ty lUionists before him. Major Wilkes informed 
 
 This communication was taken to the marshal flt?'"'''i P^''^^''^^' ^^^^ ^^ ^""^ ^^® marshal had 
 Lecompton, by Messrs. Roberts and Sock Ivh^T.' *''^'* °« -^^tter what sentence the jury 
 MiUer, editor of the Free State newspaper at I avv r ^^ ^f' "'^ ^u^' ^' ^'^^"''^ ^« ''■'^^^ back /o 
 rence, accompanied them, in order ti attend To ,^'''°'^f'°" ^^ ^^^ marshal, before they should 
 some private business of his own. As the Sate of f^T l"^ f '""'' 'l' ^^'^^'' ^'^^ then allowed 
 affairs was such in the country, that no Free Sta'e f^n T' n?" ^f ?'"'^''' ^'^'''''^ ^^^^^ ^*^ken 
 mancould pass in safety from 01 e place to anoUe; T' P'/^' ^' ^'^^' ^'' P'"'^ ^^^ volunteer 
 
 without either the pica of going fo T^e so^e offi ' T?''\ T ^f""'"' ''' ^'' ^^^^'^'^^ "^ ^''^■ 
 cer who was considere.i by the^e bands of armed v'' '."p k^' "'"'^'''^ '^»'' ^^ ^^^''''- Cab- 
 
 men as right on the all-important "estionTr a ?^sn .'f ^t''''' ''.'''' ''''''''' °^" ^^wrence, 
 pass from some one whosUuthoity th^y^r Vb^i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 pass trom some one whose authoritv ther nm \ eu ■ . ^. , " ->. .^ ^^ v.u 
 
 fessed to respect, Messrs. Roberts and B^bc^k I ^""^ '"' ^'''^ "' ^^'^^- ^' '' ^^ ^"^^"^^ •• 
 
 obtained a pass of the marshal, after receivincr 
 
 his reply, and started on their return to Lawrence" 
 
 Mr Miller accompanying them. About a mile from I signed byone'o7yo"a as Pn.';;rnrrd\he on?r i' ' 
 Lecomptiou, hey were stopped by a party of some '^^7^ Purponin,., t'o have been ^doprcd ,, ' a meen" "cT/ 
 SIX men, under Captain W. D. Wilkes, of South tTd!.''! ".ned hr'""'*;?- ^^''' speaking of the proclar 
 Carohna who inquired if Miller was' with the S;": .''tan^d"lt4Cireto "^^ 
 pary. Upon his being pointed out to them, -^-M be re!rabry^nform:d,VX -rre^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 Wilkes inciuired if thev h>.H nn = cno „v,,i o„i,.l...' I ag^-^mst us ? We de^^ire to state, mon trinhuMii and ear 
 
 nestly, that no opi)osiUon whatever will now oTdl any /w- 
 
ture tinne. be ofTercd to the execution of any les:al procpss 
 by yourself, or any person ac ing (or you. We al=o pledtre 
 ourselves to assist you, if called upon, in the execution of 
 any lej^al process.' iScc. 
 
 '■ From your professed isfnorance of ihe demantls asains' 
 you, I must conclude thai you are strangers, and nol citi- 
 zens o( Lawrence, or of recent dale, or ^ ave be^n abs-iil 
 for some dine — ihemorepanicularly,wlienan al tempt was 
 made by my depuly marsh.il to execute a process of ihe 
 first judicial court of the United Slates for Kansas Terri- 
 tory, when Governor Reeder made a speech in the room 
 and presence of the Congressional Committee, mid de- 
 Tiiel the authority and power of said d> puty, if he !it- 
 temptf-d to execute said process; which speech and de- 
 fiml threats w-re loudly applnuded by some one or two 
 huidred of X\\f citizens of Lawrenc", who had -^ssi mbled 
 at the room, on hearinsf the biisiup'^s of the mnrshal. and 
 made such hostile df-moiisirations that the deputy thousrht 
 he and his small potse would endanger their hves in exe- 
 cuiins: said process. 
 
 '•Your declaration that 'you will truthfully and earnest- 
 ly olf-^r no opposition, now or at anv fuiure lime, to lln^ 
 execution of any le^'al process,' &.c.,'is indeed difficult to 
 un''erstand. ]\Iay I ask, gentlemen, what has prodncrd 
 thi-i woiiderfu change in the minds of the people of Law- 
 rence ? Have th- ir eyes h^ en opened sotha' t'-ey are now 
 able to see t^at there are 'awsin lorce in Kansas Terr! lory 
 which should be obeyed ? Or is it that just now those for 
 wliom I liave wr.ts have sousrht refuge elsewhere? Or 
 it may possildy be that \ou now. as heretofore, ex- 
 pect to screen yourselves behind the word lei^al, so 
 significantly tised by you. How am I to ri-ly on your 
 pledges, when I am well nware that the whole popu- 
 laliou of Lawrence is armed and drilled, and the town 
 fortified; when, too. I recollect the meetings and resolu- 
 tions adopted in Lawrfuce, and else wher.-- in the Territory, 
 openly defying the laws and llie officers thereof threaten 
 ing to resist the same to a bloody issue, and recently verified 
 in the attempted assassinaiiou of Sheriff" Jones, while in 
 the discharge of his official dutv in Lawrence? Are you 
 strangers to all these things? Sorely von must he stranger.- 
 ai Lawrence. If no outrages have been commiited by the 
 citizens of Lawrence against the laws of ihe land, they need 
 not f( ar any posse of mine ; but I must t!>ke the liberty of 
 executing tlie processes in my hands ps United Stales 
 marshal in my own lim" and manner, and shall only use 
 such power as is authorized hv law. 
 
 '•You say \ ou call upon the fonstituted authorities of 
 the Government for pro'eetion. This indeed seems s'range. 
 coming from a large body of men, armed with Sharpe's 
 rifles and other implements of war. bound together by 
 oitlis and pledges to resist the laws of the Goverumeiii 
 they call on for protection. All persons in Kansa 
 Territory, without retrard to location, who honestly snh- 
 mit to the constituted authorities, will ever find me ready 
 to aid in protecting them; and all who seek to resist the 
 laws of the land, ana turn traitors to their country, will 
 find me aiding in enforcii g the laws, if not as an officer. 
 as a private citizen. 
 
 "Respectfully, your*, 
 
 "LB. DOVALDSON, 
 
 V S. Marshal for K. T. 
 "Messrs. G. W. Dibtzlkr and S. M GRE^■^', 
 
 " Larcrence, Kansas Territory." 
 
 The position of the people of Lawrence 
 had now become extremely critical. The town 
 was surrotinded by bodies of armed men, who 
 openly declared their intention of destroying 
 the place, and driving its inhabitants out of 
 the Territory. Not a man could leave the 
 town without running the risk of being taken 
 prisoner, and robbed, if not put in danger of 
 life, by some of the prowling bands of ma- 
 rauders with which the whole of that portion of 
 the Territory wag infested. None could come into 
 the town without running the same guantlet. The 
 mere suspicion of being in favor of making Kan- 
 sas a free State, was sufhcient to expose any 
 man to the enmity and brutality of men who 
 professed no regard for right and justice, and 
 only claimed to be actuated by a fixed purpose 
 of exterminating all who differed with them in 
 opinion upon the subject of Slavery. 
 
 The citizens of Lawrence appealed to the Got- 
 ernor and the United States marshal, for some 
 statement of the demands and charges against 
 them, and for protection against the lawless hordes 
 threatening the destruction of theraselyes and 
 their property. They were met with insult and 
 contumely, from those who had been placed over 
 them by the President of the United States. The 
 most gross misrepresentations which could be fab- 
 ricated by those determined upon their destruc- 
 tion, were accepted by the officers of the law, and 
 made the basis of charges against them, that had 
 no foundation whatever in truth. The decla- 
 ration of Governor Reeder, that he would defend 
 himself, on the ground that he was privileged by 
 his position, and by the laws of his country, from 
 arrest, was tortured into armed resistance by 
 the whole body of the people of Lawrence to the 
 execution of the laws. Tlie shooting of Jones 
 was converted into an evidence of the settled pur- 
 pose of the whole Free State party to " openly 
 defy the laws, and the officers thereof, and to re- 
 sist the same to a bloodj' issue," when the peo- 
 ple of Lawrence themselves had been the first in 
 public meeting to denounce the attempt upon 
 the life of Jones, as a cowardly assassination, 
 and to take steps for the discovery and convic- 
 tion of the perpetrator of that deed ; while the 
 officers of the law in the Territory had taken no 
 measures to discover and punish the guilty, but 
 had contented themselves with the broad, ground- 
 less declaration, that all the citizens of Lawrence 
 were instigators of and accomplices in the act. 
 
 The collected energies of the Government of 
 the Territory were directed against the people of 
 Lawrence. The armed bands of robbers and 
 plunderers that surrounded the town were incor- 
 porated into the jiosse of the United States mar- 
 shal, and thus their acts sanctioned under the 
 laws; while the voluntary offer of the citizens of 
 Lawrence to furnish from their own number a 
 posse for the execution of any process in the 
 hands of the marshal, or anyone acting for him, 
 was treated by him with disdain and insult, and 
 their professions designated as deceitful and 
 false. They were charged with being in open 
 rebellion to the laws, when no resistance had 
 been made by one of their number, and when 
 they again and again professed their willingness 
 not only to submit to them, but to aid in their 
 execution. 
 
 Nothing was left undone, that could goad a 
 free and proud people to resistance, that there 
 might be soine slight show of truth for the 
 charges made against them. They were told 
 that their leaders had ignominiously fled at the 
 first dawn of danger. Their own professions of 
 respect for law and justice were charged upon 
 them as evidences of cowardice and fear. De- 
 mands were made of them, which nothing but 
 their respect for even the forms of law, even when 
 united with the grossest oppression and tyranny, 
 could induce them to grant. And when all else 
 failed, they were told, by the Governor and the mar- 
 shal, that they must permit their public buildings 
 to be demolished, their presses destroyed, and 
 even surrender their ])rivate arms, their onl}' pro- 
 tection, as the oSicers of the Government had 
 
refused to afford thera any, ao:ainst robbei-y and 
 assassination ; and to render this demand as in- 
 sufferable as possible, at the same time it was 
 made, they were told, by the very officers who 
 had called out the lawless bands about them, 
 that they were beyond their control, and nothing 
 could be done by them to prevent their enacting 
 the most brutal excesses. 
 
 And while they themselres were the persons 
 immediately threatened, the people of Lawrence 
 well knew that the lull extent of any course they 
 should decide upon would react upon the whole 
 Free Sti'te party of Kansas, should they deter- 
 mine upon resistance ; whether it should prove 
 succcessful or not, the results must be detri- 
 mental to the Free State party. In the case of 
 success, then the whole force of the Territorial 
 and Federal Governments would be directed, not 
 only against the people of Lawrence, by whom 
 the resistance should be made, but against all 
 the people of the Territory who should be sus- 
 pected of sympathizing with them in political 
 opinion. Should their resistance not prove suc- 
 cessful, then it would serve only to arouse the 
 worst passions of their enemies, and reprisal and 
 outrages would be wreaked upon the entire Free 
 State party, because the people of Lawrence at- 
 tempted to defend their homes and firesides. 
 
 The course of passive submission was then 
 the only course left open to them ; and though 
 the charge of cowardice would be made against 
 them, still the people of Lawrence determined to 
 submit to present misfortune and misrepresenta- 
 tion, rather than expose their brethren else- 
 where in the Territory to the same evils which 
 threatened them, and trust to the future to prove 
 that their course had been dictated by far-seeing 
 wisdom and prudence, and that submission was 
 sometimes a surer test of courage than vain and 
 useless resistance. 
 
 Such, then, was their position, and the course 
 they determined to pursue. They were exposed 
 to a brutal and ungovernable mob of lawless in- 
 vaders. The evils impending over them could 
 not be averted. The officers of the Government, 
 whose duty it was to so administer the power 
 in their hands as to best secure their lives 
 and property, were leagued with the hordes who 
 threatened their destruction. They were de- 
 prived of the presence of the Committee of the 
 House of Representatives, which many consid- 
 ered as a guarantee of freedom from attack while 
 they were in their midst. Circumstances were 
 such, that however willing the Committee might 
 have been to give them all the benefit their pre?- 
 ence might afford, they were unable to remain. 
 They had made an appointment, before the then 
 existing state of affairs had arisen, to meet in 
 another part of the Territory; any failure to 
 meet that appointment would have been eagerly 
 seized by their enemies, and so used as certainly' 
 to detract from, if not entirely defeat, all the ben- 
 eficial results which were confidently expected 
 from their investigations. Accordingly, the Com- 
 mittee removed their sessions from Lawrence to 
 Leavenworth city, leaving the former place on 
 the 13th of May. 
 la order that no blame might attach to them, 
 
 for having omitted anything that could avert 
 the evils impending over them, though the ex- 
 perience of the past year proved, most conclu- 
 sively, bow utterly regardless of right and jus- 
 tice were those with whom they had to deal, they 
 continued to address the Governor and marshal, 
 repeating their former assurances, and claiming 
 their protection, with what success the scenes of 
 the 21st of May can best demonstrate. They ap- 
 plied to Colonel Sumner for the protection of the 
 trooi)S under his command ; but he w;is unable 
 to afford it, being himself subject to the orders 
 of the Governor, who sanctioned all these pro- 
 ceedings. They invited the Committee to return 
 to their town ; but that was utterly impossible, 
 without risking the great object for \a hich they 
 had been appointed. 
 
 The approaching storm was fast closing over 
 the doomed town. Each day, new acts of bar- 
 barity and ruffianism were committed by the law- 
 less bands that surrounded Lawrence. All per- 
 sons going to and from Lawrence, unless pro- 
 vided with passes from the Governor or marshal, 
 or some of the other leaders, were, if discovered, 
 taken prisoners, robbed, and maltreated, and not 
 seldom their lives threatened. The wagons of 
 peaceful emigrants were stopped and searched^ 
 and their contents sometimes taken. Houses 
 were entered and plundered; cattle and stock 
 driven off the farms of Free State settlers, 
 or butchered before the eyes of their owners. 
 Horses and oxen were taken from the plows, 
 while at work. "Women and children were threat- 
 ened, unless thej' gave information of the where- 
 abouts of their husbands and fathers ; and wan- 
 toa, cold-blooded murder swelled the list of the 
 lawless acts of these ruffians, whom the Gov- 
 ernor and other officers of the Territory digni- 
 fied with the name of "the posse of the United 
 States marshal." An inoffensive citizen, after 
 having been robbed of his pistol by a band of 
 these ruffians, was shot in the back, as he was 
 riding from them to his house, and died of his 
 wound shortly after. Young Stewart, hardly ia 
 the flower of his youth, was shot through the 
 head, within a short distance of Lawrence, and 
 instantly killed, 
 
 The armed bands were under the command of 
 Colonel Titus, of Florida ; Dr. L H. Stringfellow, 
 of the Kansas Legislature ; Colonel Peter T. Abell, 
 of Atchison; Colonel J. Buford, of Alabama; David 
 R. Atchison, of Missouri ; Major G. W. Clark, aa 
 Indian agent under appointment of the Presi- 
 dent ; Warren D. Wilkes, of South Carolina, and 
 others, all claiming to be acting un4er the orders 
 of the United States marshal, I. B. Donaldson, 
 and the Governor, Wilson Shannon. They were 
 armed with United States muskets and rifies, fur- 
 nished them by the Governor, and other rifles 
 and gunf, many of which they had stolen from 
 the Free State settlers in various parts of the Ter- 
 ritory. They had cannon which were brought 
 from Missouri, some by David R. Atchison, who 
 headed a company from that State. 
 
 The whole of that portion of the Territory was 
 under the control of this armed mob ; prisoners 
 were taken by them daily, robbed of all their arms 
 and valuables of every description, kept in close 
 
confinement, badly fed, and worse treated, many 
 threatening them with hanging, and all uniting 
 iu cursing and abusing them. The most con- 
 spicuous in this work of brutality was Dr. J. H. 
 Stringfellow, who seemed to take especial pleas- 
 ure in cursing and abusing the helpless prison- 
 ers in his power, and in doing all he could to in- 
 flict pain upon those women who had braved all 
 dangers to cheer and comfort their husbands in 
 their captivity ; brutally ordering them away, and 
 separating them- from their husbands, despite all 
 fheir tears and entreaties, and the request of some 
 associated M'ith him, not so far lost to all humane 
 feeling as himself. 
 
 On Tuesday, l^Iay 20, these forces began to gather 
 on the heights about Lawrence. On Wednes- 
 day, the 21st, they moved farther down, within 
 sight of the town, and planted their cannon, and 
 proceeded to make preparations for immediate 
 attack. They were reinforced by companies from 
 Franklin, and Lecompton. Addresses were made 
 to them by the United States marshal and David 
 R. Atchison, in which they were urged by every 
 expression of hate to the Free-Soilers, and appeals 
 to their worst passions, to thoroughly carry 
 out the work of destruction for which they had 
 been gathered together. The different compa- 
 nies had each its separate flag, upon which were 
 devices and mottoes of various kinds. Even the 
 flag of this Republic was desecrated by being 
 unfurled to the same breeze that shook out the 
 folds of a black and white flag ; one with purple 
 stripes, containing, instead of the field of stars in 
 the corner, a tiger crouching for a spring ; a blood- 
 red fl^ig with a white star in the centre, the motto 
 of "Southern Rights" on one side, and "South 
 Carolina" on the other, and others of a similar 
 character. 
 
 About 11 o'clock in the morning, Deputy Mar- 
 ehal Fane came into the city of Lawrence, with 
 a small force, armed with bowie-knives and pis- 
 tols ; he called upon Colonel Eldridge, the pro- 
 prietor of the hotel Ihey afterwards destroyed, 
 his brother. Colonel John A. Perry, and Colonel 
 Topliff, in the name of the United States, to join 
 his posse, and assist l>im in making arrests. 
 True to the promise made by the citizens of Law- 
 rence to the Governor and marshal, that they 
 would assist, when called on, to execute any 
 writs there might be against their citizens, these 
 gentlemen at once joined the posse. They then 
 arrested G. W. Dietzler and Judge G. W. Smith, 
 upon the charge of high treason, and levying war 
 against the Government. Other persons, against 
 whom the deputj' marshal had writs, were sought 
 for, but were not found, as they were not in the 
 city. After having made all the arrests they 
 could, the posse and prisoners took dinner in the 
 hotel, upon the invitation of Colonel Eldridge, 
 that being the first and last public meal ever 
 eaten in that house. The deputy marshal then 
 went upon the hill where the forces were gath- 
 ered, and put not only his prisoners under guard, 
 but also the citizens of Lawrence who had acted 
 in his posse, in pursuance of his orders. Shortly 
 after they reached the camp, Jacob Branson and 
 Gains Jenkins, who had been taken prisoners, 
 ■were brought in and placed under guard. All the 
 
 prisoners were confined in the private residence 
 of Dr. Charles Robinson, which they had broken 
 into, and taken complete possession of, with all 
 its contents. 
 
 In the early part of the afternoon, Samuel J. 
 Jones, acting as sheriff of Douglas county, rode 
 into town, accompanied by some eighteen or 
 twenty armed men, and drew up in front of the 
 Free State Hotel, and demanded to see General 
 S. C. Pomeroy. Upon his appearing, Jones de- 
 manded, " by order of the first district court of 
 the United States for the Territory of Kansas, 
 that all the Sharpe's rifles and cannon in the town 
 of Lawrence" be delivered up to him, and, pull- 
 ing out his watch, gave General Pomeroy "five 
 minutes to decide whether he would deliver them 
 up, and one hour to stack them in the street." 
 General Pomeroy asked for a longer time to de- 
 cide upon the demand, which Jones peremptorily 
 refused. After consulting other citizens of the 
 town, Pomeroy decided to surrender the cannon, 
 which consisted of three small breech-loading 
 cannon, and one brass twelve-pound howitzer, 
 but " told Jones that the rifles, if there were any, 
 were private property, and he could have no con- 
 trol over them." The cannon were then brought 
 out, and delivered up to Jones, who ordered the 
 citizens to take them to where the forces were 
 gathered, " under threats of being immediately 
 bayoneted if they refused." 
 
 While these events were transpiring iu the town 
 the entire armed force, consisting of some four 
 or five hundred men, marched down the hill upon 
 which they had been stationed, with their can- 
 non, and their flags flying, and formed into a 
 hollow square at the entrance of the main street 
 of the city, with their canmm commanding the 
 street. The small posse of Sheriff' Jones had 
 been reinforced by some foi-ty from the main 
 army. The cannon that had been surrendered 
 by the citizens of Lawrence were carried within 
 the hollow square, and Gen. David R. Atchison, 
 of Missouri, mounting the howitzer, addressed 
 the mob in substance as follows : 
 
 "Tliis (liiy. boys, I aiti a Kiikapoo Ranjrer. Tliis dny 
 is lhe ino.ots'lorious of my life. By God, this day biive we 
 filtered 1 awrt'.iiee with 'PoHllitTU Rifjhis' inscribed 
 upon our banners, and not one damned Alo'itionist has 
 dnred to fir._- a pun. A ^ulorious victory, lioys, l)y God. 
 We liave entered the damned city, and to-nii;hl the Ab- 
 obii'inisf: will learn a Southern lessoii tliat ihey will re- 
 memb<rto the day of their dea'h. That Einisfrant Aid 
 Hotel, with her port-holes, must this day be tested, and it 
 l)lown to hell. The damned Abolilionist presses must go 
 into the Kaw river, and there soak out some of their 
 (lark<'y love. And now, boys, we will go in with ourliou- 
 or-'hle Jones, (who had just ri'Uleii up to them,) and test 
 lhe slrenajth of that damned Free State Hotel, and teach 
 the F.miurant Aid Society that Kansas shall he ours. ,If 
 the men or women undertake to stop us. we will hang 
 ihem. by God. A lady is entitled to the pro ection of 
 every gentleman, and I trust that ladies will l>e respected 
 liy allsentlemen But when a woman takes upon herself 
 the garb of a soldier, by earrjing a Sharpe's rifle, then 
 she is no more w^orthy your protection liian a savage 
 brute; she is no longer a woman, and, liy God, treat her 
 as you find her, and trample her under foo'. as you would 
 a snake. 1 now give you into the hands of Slieriff Jones, 
 to become his pi.sse, and assist him in enforcing the laws 
 of Kansas. Coine on. boys, to your duty to yourselves 
 and to your Southern friends. Your duly 1 know you will 
 do f iilifully ; and if a man or woman dare to stand be- 
 fore you, blow them to hell with a chunk of cold lead." 
 
 This characteristic speech was received with 
 
the most boisterous yells and shouts. At its 
 close, the whole force marched into town, under 
 the lead of Sheriff Jones. Two companies were 
 detailed to destroy the printing-presses and ma- 
 terials of the Herald of Freedom and Free State 
 newspapers. The blood-red flag, as the sign of 
 their being doomed to destruction, was hoisted 
 upon the Free State Hotel and the two printing 
 offices, amid the yells of the mob. The printing 
 offices were entered, the presses and furniture 
 broken up, and, with the type, &;c., scattered in 
 the street and thrown into the river. 
 
 The mob then turned their attention to the 
 Free State Hotel. Sheriff Jones told Colonel 
 Eldridge, the proprietor, that he would allow 
 him one hour to remove his family and furniture. 
 Col. Eldridge replied, that he could not remove 
 his furniture in that time, and should there- 
 fore remove only his family. At five o'clock, 
 the forces commenced bombarding the hotel, 
 having planted in front of it, for that purpose, 
 one of the cannon surrendered to the sheriff by 
 the citizens, and some they had brought along 
 with them. They fired thirty or more balls at 
 the walls of the hotel, some of which rebounded 
 ■without doing any material damage, and others 
 passed through the walls. Finding this a slow 
 method of destroying the building, they at- 
 tempted to blow it up with gunpowder, but did 
 not succeed in doing so. The building was then 
 set on fire, and consumed, with a great portion of 
 its valuable contents, the walls falling in as the 
 interior was consumed. 
 
 While one portion of this " posse " was engaged 
 in destroying the printing-presses and the hotel, 
 others were engaged in breaking open and plun- 
 dering stores and private houses. Here is what 
 an eye-witness states : 
 
 "Jones rode up in front of Ihe hotel, and notified ttie 
 proprietors tliat they must leave that house, for he w;is 
 {,'oiiig to tear it down. Being well acq'iainted wiih !\ir. 
 .Tones, I stepped forward, and asked him by what author- 
 ity he destroyed the printing-;)re^s 'S and the hotel. His an 
 svver was umtjui vocal ajid distinct : ' The grand jury have 
 presented the hotel and the ivi-o priiiiingpresses as nui- 
 sances, and I hoM an order from the court to abate them, 
 and I shall do it.' He then had the four cannon placed about 
 150 feet fr'-^m and in front of the hotel. They fired thirty 
 shots at the front side, and could not dainaije it much. So the 
 order wa- given by Colonel Titus, who was the military 
 comijfiauder, to set the building on fire. The order was 
 obeyed, atid the house burned to the ground. 
 
 '■ While they were firing upon the hotel, I went to the 
 post office, and found that they had just run the clerk out. 
 because he had a SharpeV rifle. While there, there was a 
 party of the jwise came into the office. Some one of them 
 kicked the door open leading into the post office, it being 
 an apartment in a store. They went in, looked about un- 
 til their curiosity was satisfied, and then came out Dr. 
 J. H. Siriiigfcllow was of the num''er. Dr. Stringfellow 
 looked about and said, ' What en n I take for plunder?' His 
 eye fell upon some cigars, and he took two boxes, put 
 themunder his ariri, and said, as he walked off, "This will 
 do for rre.' I left the post office, and went to the store of 
 G. W. & W. Hutchinson & Co. The store was locked. 
 Colonel Titus said : '[ think there are Sharpe's rifles in 
 there; stave her in, boys, if she is locked.' Tliey obeyed 
 him by hreakiinr in the front window with the butts of 
 their guns, and then cawled in, some ten of them. 1 then 
 left that place for my lioarding-house. On iny way there. 
 I saw a party of men who seemed to be overjoyed at some 
 prize they hf;d obtained. I wentui> to them, and found if to 
 be the tru"k of A. H. Rc-eder. They had broken the lid 
 off, and were <.'mptying the contents on the ground, each 
 collecting some ariiele of clothing, some letter, or some 
 paper, that pleased their fancy.- iw.iitto my boardijig- 
 house, and found that it was guarded, and that men were 
 
 inside. They had burst in the window, and went in and 
 came out th'it way. A* sooit as they left, I went into the 
 house, and found tiiat they had biokeiiopeii all the trunks in 
 ihel ouse. all ihedrawersof the secretaries — in fact, lifled 
 everything m the house. I found that they had taken all 
 of my clothing, matiy of iny private letters, and g?539 in 
 money, from niy trunk, and had taken all the clothing of 
 the gi mleuirtu with whom I boarded. I saw them jiass 
 across the street, breaV Ihe windov.s in of the house of B. 
 .folinson. p.nd quite a number passed m through the window. 
 After some lime, they came out, shouting triunnphantly, 
 with their arms full of clothing and two or three common 
 guns. I then went to the place where we had t»ken the 
 women and children for safety, and watched the burning 
 of the hotel. 
 
 ''The jjo.vse began to go homeward, and while they were 
 passing the house of Governor (^Dharles Pobin^on, it was 
 set on fire three times, at:d as otlen exiinguishetl. We 
 thought they had all left town, atid began to come to our 
 houses afiain, when there came back some filly men, 
 mounted, who rode aroiii\d the ruins ol the hotel, and gave 
 three ch'-ers. On their return to their camp, the house of 
 (ioveniT Charles Robinson was set on fire and burned. 
 Thus endfd the ahnlnntniof the 7ntisances, which the court 
 ordtrcd Sheriff Joyiis to abate." 
 
 The same system of robbery and plunder wag 
 carried on with regard to the other buildings in 
 Lawrence — this " posse of the United States Mar- 
 shal for Kansas Territory " stealing money, cloth- 
 ing, letters, and valuable papers, kc, and in many 
 cases wantonly destroying that which was too 
 bulky for them to take away, or was not sufHciently 
 valuable to tempt their cupidity. Even those 
 citizens who had been summoned into and had 
 entered the posse of the deputy marshal, to aid 
 in making arrests, did not escape the fate of 
 their neighbors, though the Governor himself had 
 assured them that hy so doing their property 
 would be protected. The hotel burned was oc- 
 cupied by Colonel Eldridge. The house of Colonel 
 Perry was entered, and money and valuables 
 belonging to him and to Colonel Topiiff, to the 
 amount of $2,000, stolen or destroyed. The total 
 loss to the citizens of Lawrence on that day, has 
 been variously estimated :it from $100,000 to 
 $200,000. The total loss to the Free State citi- 
 zens of that town and vicinity can never be as- 
 certained. Farmers and mechanics were kept 
 for weeks from their daily labor, being obliged 
 to guard day and night the town of Lawrence and 
 their houses on their farms; prevented from put- 
 ting in their crops for the ensuing year, or, when 
 attempting to do so, having their teams taken 
 from their plows and carts in the field, and either 
 butchered before their faces, or driven off by 
 these bands of robbers. 
 
 While these transactions were taking place in 
 and near Lawrence, under the sanction of the 
 officers of the law, others of a similar character 
 were occurring in other parts of the Territory. 
 The mail carriers were stopped at Franklin and 
 other places, and the mail bags searched and 
 plundered. The system of espionage and plunder 
 even extended to the State of Missouri. The 
 steamboat William Campbell was boarded by a 
 mob at Parkville, Missouri, on Sunday, the 18th 
 of May, and General P. C. Schuyler and Judge 
 Martin F. Conway, Free State men, then on their 
 way to Kansas, to meet any charges that might 
 be made against them, were forcibly taken from 
 the boat, and detained in that place. After being 
 held piisoners for a day, they were permitted to 
 go on to the Territory, their captors seeing the 
 
10 
 
 absurdity of their conduct ia thus keeping from 
 the officers of the Territory those for whom they 
 said warrants had been or were about to be 
 issued. 
 
 The citizens of Lawrence had, by their wise 
 and prudent course, succeeded fully in placing 
 their enemies in the wrong. If law and justice 
 had been outraged, the officers of the law and 
 their posse had committed the outrage. If atro- 
 cities had been committed, the marshal and 
 sheriif, with their regularly-constituted posaes, 
 had been the perpetrators. The citizens of Law- 
 rence had resisted no law, whether valid or 
 otherwise, had committed no outrages, had 
 countenanced no rebellion. They had chosen 
 rather to submit to oppression and tyranny, and 
 trust to the future for reparation, than, by exer- 
 cising their right of self-defence, to give their 
 enemies an opportunity to charge them and their 
 Free State brethren elsewhere in the Territory 
 with disobedience to the laws. 
 
 The deed had been done. Tidings had been 
 borne to the world, that in this land of Freedom, 
 a Territory had been invaded by armed bands of 
 ruffians, a town had been besieged and entered, 
 buildings burned, private dwellings plundered^ 
 women and children driven in terror from their 
 homes, and wanton, cold-blooded murder com- 
 mitted — all done under direction and with the 
 sanction of officers appointed by the President 
 of the United States of America — and for what? 
 Solely because the people of Kansas Territory 
 were opposed to having the institution of human 
 Slavery established in their midst, by the un- 
 authorized interference of the citizens of Mis- 
 souri. True, the charge had been made, that 
 the people of Lawrence had armed themselves 
 to resist the laws, had bound themselves by 
 oaths and pledges to pay no obedience to the 
 officers of the law; had even attempted to as- 
 sassinate the officer who had attempted to ex- 
 ecute the law in their town. But it was equally 
 true, that no proof was ever obtained that any 
 of these charges had the least foundation in 
 fact, but, on the contrary, they had all been de- 
 nied, and their authors defied to substantiate 
 them ; no proof had been forthcoming, and no 
 steps taken to obtain any proof; on the con- 
 trary, the conduct of those who instigated and 
 carried on the attack upon the town of Lawrence 
 was such as to warrant the conviction that 
 they studiously avoided all efforts to substan- 
 tiate their charges, knowing full well how ut- 
 terly false and groundless they were. 
 
 The natural consequences "of these outrages 
 began quickly to make themselves apparent. 
 In every portion of the Territory, the Free State 
 citizens began to prepare for action, and deep 
 mutterings of vengeance were every where heard. 
 A portion of the so-called posse of the United 
 Slates marshal had left the scene of their misdeeds, 
 and retired to their homes in the Northern part 
 of the Territory, and in Missouri ; one band of 
 them, under David R. Atchison, having had the 
 effrontery to ask of the citizens of Lawrence, 
 whom they had robbed and plundered, permis- 
 sion to pass through their town unmolested, 
 which was generously accorded to them. The 
 
 greater portion, however, still remained stationed 
 at Lecompton, the seat of Government of the 
 Territory, and threatened to attack the town of 
 Topeka and other places, whose inhabitants pre- 
 ferred Freedom to Slavery. 
 
 The aspect of affairs became so threatening, 
 that the Governor hastened to call out Colonel 
 Sumner, with the United States troops under hia 
 command. Governor Shannon had refused to call 
 out these troops, when repeatedly requested to 
 do so by the citizens of Lawrence, in order to 
 afford them protection. But now, when the 
 armed rabble had fully carried out their pur- 
 poses, had robbed and plundered the town of 
 Lawrence, had burned its houses and murdered 
 its citizens, he made haste to call out the troops, 
 to protect them from the well-merited vengeance 
 of the people they had outraged. Instead of using 
 the authority vested in him to protect the people 
 over whom he had been placed, he exercised it 
 to afford protection to those who had invaded 
 the Territory, and successfully carried out their 
 piratical and murderous designs, and who now- 
 threatened to perform similar acts in other por- 
 tions of the Territory. 
 
 The citizens of Topeka, upon hearing that an 
 attack was contemplated upon them, addressed a 
 communication to Governor Shannon, to which 
 he returned the following reply: 
 
 "Executive Office, 
 " Lecompton, K. T., May 23, 1S56. 
 "Gentlemen: Your memorial, which U not dated, lias 
 just hceii ivceived. In r^ply, 1 would beg leave to say, 
 thai [ liave no douht ihat the oulraa;es of which jou 
 speak have b^-ea jrreatly exafrgeraied and highly colored. 
 [| may be that there are men on both sides who are desirous 
 to complicate the present difficulties in this Tenitory. and 
 who leel no part.cnlar interest in avoidina- the evils of 
 civil war. Uiiuer these circumstances, it be omes the 
 law-abidinq- citizens of both parties to act with caution, 
 and not to lend a willing carlo all the reports that are 
 tloaiins through the country. 
 
 'The United Stales marshal, as well as the sheriff of 
 this county, as you are d.iubtless aware, have each been 
 resisted in the execution of writs in their hands, by cit- 
 izens in the town of Lawrence. The life of one of these 
 lias been attempted, and that of the oilier threatened, under 
 circumstances tojuftifyihe most serious apprehensions as 
 10 personal salety, if he should asain attempt the service 
 of writs in iliat place. LInder these cireuiiistauoes, each 
 of thesf officers, by virtue of the power which the law 
 vesis in them, assembled a posse large enough to insure 
 the service of process. They have gol through serv- 
 ing the writs in their hai.ds as far "as praclicalrle at 
 present, and each has dismissed his posse. Nearly all 
 who belonged to these posses have retired, and 1 think 
 there is not the sliLfhlest da.iger of your being assailed, 
 or in any way inol'^sled, unless private assus ination or 
 personal outrage should rouse a public feeling which 
 -hou'd a,'aiii bring into the field u ludy of men deter- 
 mined to avenge re;il or supposed wrongs. 
 
 •• It is useless lo disguise the fact, that' there is at this 
 moineni imminent danVer of this— a result which 1 know 
 you and all good citizens would deeply de lore. Mr. 
 Cox and wire were fired ujion last evening, when riding 
 out of Lawrence, the ball passing b. tween them. It is 
 outrages of this kind that are cal ulated to bring on a civil 
 war, which could not be eoiitroll' d by the public autliori- 
 lies, and which would end only by the entire extermina- 
 tion of one or the oilier of the parties. 
 
 " Let ine appeal loone and all, to unite in averting these 
 threate'ied evils. Let no one uiidert.ike to redress his 
 own wrorg. hut appeal lo the law in all cases. It is the 
 only safety 'or all pariii-s. and I can see no reason why 
 ample security for bolh persons and properly cannot be 
 as well Sf-cuied in this Terrilory as in any of the S ates, 
 if ihe citizens would in good faith unite in aiding the 
 officers of the law in arrasiing and bringing to justice all 
 persons who violate the law. It is to be Vegreiied, that 
 
11 
 
 .'there is n party in this Territory wlio refuse to recognise 
 'Vthe validity of the Terrilorinl taws, and eo'isecjueiit y 
 * take iiopnft in lirinsring otreiiders to ju'^tice, or in turnisli 
 inn to l!»^' ohcers the names of witnesses, whose test- 
 irrToiiy would he necessary in order to ferret out crime. 
 I would mo^^t respeclfully solicit tlie aid and a'sistiince 
 of the ciii/'iis of Topeka. in es'al)lishii'g a sound and 
 hea'thy admiui^'raiion of the law. as the best means to 
 secure the peace and >;ood order of society, the prosperity 
 of the country, and their own personal safely. 
 
 "With the vi<-w of securing all their rights, and pre- 
 serving' peace and good order, and the jus' execution of 
 the laws, I have mnde a requisition on Col. Rumner for 
 three companies of troops, one company to be s'a ioned 
 at Lawrence, one at this place, and one at Topeka. 
 Should it be thought advisable to have troops >taii(;n'd 
 at olhe- points, I will make an additional tequisiii n on 
 Col. Sumner. He will be in Lawrence this evening with 
 liis command, and I will lose no lime in ordering hi.s 
 troops to Topeka. . 
 
 '•I can assure you. I will exert all the powers vested m 
 me to preserve order, and to secure the rijhts of persons 
 and properly throughout the Teiriiory; but I wish the 
 citizens to reflect, that much depends upon their own 
 action, especially at this moment. 
 
 "Yours, with great respect, 
 
 "WIL!?ON SHANNON. 
 "To Messrs. C. K. Holliday, D. H. Horne, and others.^' 
 
 Now, examine carefully this document, written 
 by the Governor of Kansas Territory to the cit- 
 izens of Topeka, who had written to him to learn 
 whether he would protect them against outrages 
 like those committed in their sister city of Law- 
 rence, or whether they must trust to their own 
 stout arms and brave hearts for their own de- 
 fence. He tells them " that the outrages of 
 ■which they speak have been greatly exaggerated 
 and highly colored," aud says that "it becomes 
 law-abiding citizens of both parties to act with 
 caution, and not to lend a too-willing ear to all 
 the reports that are floating through the coun- 
 try." And, to show in what manner he himself 
 practices what he recommends to others, he goes 
 on immediately to state that " the U. S. marshal 
 as well as the sheriff of this county * * .* 
 have each been resisted in the execution of writs 
 in their hands, by citizens of the town of Law- 
 rence. The life of one of these has been at- 
 tempted, and that of the other threatened, un- 
 der circumstances to justify the most serious 
 apprehensions as to personal safety, if he should 
 again attempt the service of writs in that place." 
 Now, the cilizens of Topeka were well aware 
 that those statements were "greatly exagger- 
 ated." They knew that the U. S. marshal Lad 
 never attempted to serve a writ in Lawrence, 
 and therefore could never have been "resisted 
 by the citizens of Lawrence." The deputy 
 niarshal had been there with a writ, and Gov. 
 Reeder, against whom it was issued, had told 
 him, that fDeireving he was privileged from arrest 
 under any such writ, and that his life would be 
 in danser from the mob if he suffered himself to 
 be taken to Lecompton, if he, the deputy mar- 
 shal, or any other person, attempted to arrest 
 him, it would be at his peril. Not another person 
 said a word about resistance ; and, as no attempt 
 was made to serve the writ, no resistance was 
 offered. If the sheriff had been resisted, it had 
 been only by the individuals he had attempted 
 to arrest^ arid that only in one or two instances. 
 The "citizens of the town of Lawrence," as a geii- 
 eral thing, while expressing no very exalted esti- 
 mate of the man or the officer, had never resisted 
 
 the sheriff, who had made several arrests in that 
 place. It is true that the life of the sheriff had 
 been attempted, but not by the "citizens of 
 Lawrence," for they immediately, and as a body, 
 publicly denounced the attempt, and were the 
 only parties who had undertaken to discover the 
 assassin. But grossly- exaggerated stattments 
 of these transactions had been made, and, if not 
 believed, at least the authorities had lent a will- 
 ing ear to them, and, proceeding " to act with cau- 
 tion," had assembled an overwhelming force, and 
 wreaked their cowardly vengeance upon an un- 
 offending community. And having learned that 
 there was no protection for them in the laws as 
 administered, should they undertake to defend 
 themselves, the Governor says, that if " private 
 assassination and personal outrage," as he terms 
 the contemplated acts of self-protection, be com- 
 mitted, it wotild " rouse a public feeling which 
 would again bring into the field a body of men 
 determined to avenge real or supposed wrongs." 
 He says that " Mr. Cox and wife were fired 
 upon last evening, when riding out of Lawrence, 
 the ball passing between them." He himself 
 gives credence, or affects to do so, to " greatly- 
 exaggerated and highly-colored" statements, of 
 which there was no proof whatever, and inti- 
 mates that the Free State " citizens of Lawrence" 
 had committed that outrage. He then goes on 
 to say, that " it is outrages of this kind that are 
 calcu'lated to bring on a civil war, which could 
 not be controlled by the public authorities, and 
 which would end only by the entire extennination 
 of one or the other of'the parties." As he makes 
 no mention of the outrages committed by the 
 Pro-Slavery party not forty-eight hours before, 
 or refers to them only as the " serving the writs 
 in their (the marshal and sheriff's) hands, as far 
 as practicable at present ; " as he does not allude 
 even remotely to the murder of Jones and Stew- 
 art, the Monday previous, by the Pro-Slavery 
 party, without any provocation whatever; as 
 these occurrences are deemed unworthy of no- 
 tice, while the alleged firing a ball between Mr. 
 Cox and his wife by the Free State " citizens of 
 Lawrence " is considered an outrage calculated 
 to lead to the entirfi extermination of one of the 
 parties in the Territory, it did not require much 
 penetration, on the part of the citizens of Topeka, 
 to understand to whom the threat of entire exter- 
 mination was intended to apply. The Governor 
 appeals to the citizens of Topeka, to " let no one 
 undertake to redress his own wrong, but appeal 
 to the law in all cases," as affording " ainple 
 security for both persons and property ; " to 
 " unite in good faith in aiding the officers of the 
 law," aud " in establishing a sound and healthy 
 administration of the law, as the best means to 
 secure the peace and good order of society, the 
 prospeiHly of the country, and their own personal 
 safety." What but mockery was it to ask this 
 of tlie citizens of Topeka, when they knew that 
 this Relf-sarae Governor, who thus appealed to 
 the law as affording protection for person and 
 property, himself told the citizens of Lawrence 
 that they must deliver up their private arms, and 
 suffer their hotel and printing-presses to be de- 
 stroyed ; when they knew that those very citi- 
 
12 
 
 ofthel.,i.^M Tf ""'^'J ^''^'^ "aided the officers 
 o tl e law had been the heaviest sufferers from 
 the "posse of the United States marshal," the 
 house of one being cannonaded and burned o 
 
 1, ^'T\^' ?^^ '^' ^'"'''^ °f ^"°ther entered 
 and robbed, while they themselves were detaSed 
 prisoners and saw their own property divided 
 f.^^^,/';"' '^f'^^''^- ^^'h^t but mockery w'c 
 with ''.l^;.'^™ !^i^^ ^'l^^n their hearts yet throbbed 
 
 who had been kept a prisoner thereuntil news 
 iemtorial Government, and steps could be taken 
 
 whSrw 'r'"^°'■^^^° ^'^ farther deteruLn- 
 ^vhich was done by the grand jury at Lecompton 
 
 T^I^f-'T'"''' '' '''^^' Lecompte, Sing' 
 a bill of mdictment against him and others, fo? 
 
 . , . , ...... .ucu aearis yet turobhed I ^H V. ''k"*"' T"^ •^^^'^ ^^^" ^'^ ^'"^^al arrest- 
 
 with indignation at the recital of t^e deed' o^- p'^'^t-?,''°';■^^ 
 
 barbantj and violence that had been comm te'l anS t eJ-J "^ ^T "^"' *° ^'^^«^°"" ^'^^^^ 1^™, 
 at Lawrence, under the direction of "the offi er e™i V'^''?' ? '''"'§'' °^^^« ^'^"-^ff^^ Leav-' 
 of the law," and their cheeks still burned vfti ^''^'''^^ ^o^-^^.^j to await orders from the seat of 
 Bhame, that the chief executive of he IW^ -7 S°;"'"«^eni of the Territory. 
 
 in which they lived ZT^:! '^VZZ\os!:Vl'^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 sanction to such proceedings? ^''T^''^'''^' ^ °"n^ber of persons, belonging to 
 
 In but few instances, however, did the excesses U^rth ."nl'T^ T^^' "^'^ ^^cretly in Leaven- 
 of the "posse of the United StatPrmnrct v- o ' ^ ^''™^'^ '^^'^^^ was known publicly as 
 lead the Free State men of ^1 TeSr> to cmi iS'tT''''^^' V^''''''' ' ^^'''-''' ^'^-^ an^ 
 ifii similar excesses in retaliation. At saw^ " Zm'Z^t "^"^r^' '" understand. The citizens 
 omie, five Pro-Slavery men were ktlloil ^^^ i *^'''°"" °" ^'^^ opposite side of the river had 
 what circumstances hL never been f^ ascer"' IfTerTT' ' 'Tf'"^ ^"«"-- - ^^^^^ P-t 
 tamed Enough has been learned, however o °2ct^n7'°^^^^ 
 
 show that the deed was not justifiab e and 'e! f,!. t n ''^ f "^bers, had never made any demon- 
 cusable only on the ground tha i™i,^ tf at a i? . '" ''''°,^*^ '^'^°^^"- '^^ '^"^y ^id, 
 
 had been committed on the other s ide A bv a/^v fn ^°"^« ^^^^ ^nd them overwhelmed 
 Hickory Point, the scene of the murder of Dow ^I^X^J Z f "°' '^'^''°"" ^'^'^ '^"'''' opponents 
 last fall, the Free State men drove ofJ several bee , h. r° '''?^ S"^'' ^^^^^^ever might have 
 families of their political opponents destrmino 0,^1^ 9«m /'V,'^' ^^'* '^'''^ ^'"^^ "^^ "««n-daj 
 none of their property, and n'o? endangering tS to thirty in n.,; '^ ' " '°'j ''■ T'^ ^^^^-^e 
 lives in any way. ^ ^ "-T '" number, armed with United States 
 
 The news of {hese transactions produced ereat nrrchir^ft^'''^''")'^!,^-^"^' ^'''^ ^° "^'^'^^"'^ «^der, 
 excitement among the Pro-Slavery party in tlfe ,Ttf, ''""'' *^'' '^'"•^^^^ '^f Leavenworth 
 
 Territory and in' the State of KurV tL L^SoiU h V'.^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 commission of similar deeds by themselves had,, o^^^ Caiol.na, arresting peaceable unoffend- 
 been considered matters of congratuSion and f T' ^'^T^ ''"^^ ^"'"« ^^^^' that they 
 
 praise. But when the tables turned and L n,.^t. ■°"' '^ ^f ^"^ ^^^^^^ "^ ^''' ^'^'^■ 
 hey became the victims instead of the agS^or, nect^d with tT" "'^f ''"' ?'' '''''' ''' '^' ^°^- 
 language failed to express the denunciattonrand h^d hi ^fe murders at Ossawatomie, which 
 condemnations they launched forth had been made the excuse for this unlawful pro- 
 
 In Westport, Missouri, a company was raided \Z1.2^' \°^^f^ ^^^t^^o^ty^as claimed for their 
 of Missourians in fact, hough ma^ daimed to on. ?'*,' n'''^''" questioned by Mr. Sherman, 
 be residents of the Territory and tSnr™l^°°°'^ °^ ^^^^ Congressional Committee, in whose 
 under the command of Henry C P.^to to S Kv'r''' '°"'' °/ ^'^ arrests were made, Major 
 scene of difficulty, to apprehend the murdered I '°"i'"*t'^ ^''"^''^^ ^''^'^ ^^^^"'^g- ^ P^^^^ 
 
 Pate himself has^ldmitte^d, in his Ist^n^nv t r .^%'"; "" ^"' ^^""'^' ^''"^''^ ^'' ^'^'^ contained a 
 fore the Congressional Committee that he^hf; ^^ "?? Pe^/°"S he would make prisoners, if 
 
 no legal authority of any khid to a'pnreh Jid e h'T, ■°"''^ ^' ^"""^l" , ^"°"- ^''^ P°'-^«°« ^^-^^^ 
 persons whom he desired\ocaptureTadfbunded^S^^ ^''^' ^^^- ^'- Conway, who at 
 
 bis authority solely upon some S b'al nerSon r"' . ' ^"''^ ^''^' ""^'^-ed in labor for 
 
 given him by one c'laiLing to act as ie' u™ m^ h ir'^Sf ^T haS t ^'^t" r"^ °^^"^^'^' ""' 
 shfll ^ J- "jai I uieir Clerks. Me had been to Lecompton, and 
 
 had been assured by the United States marshal 
 that there was no warrant of any kind against 
 him y\ hen he asked his captors their authority 
 tor thus arresting him, he was toId»that he must 
 come with them; that they would answer none 
 of his questions. Mr. Weibling, a mail carrier, 
 was arrested because he stopped at the house 
 and asked what they were doing. II. Miles 
 
 shal 
 
 In Leavenworth city, the excitement was very 
 great. The Congressional Committee had been 
 in session there for some two weeks. They had 
 been subjected to many difficulties in the prose- 
 cution of their labors; had been misrepresented 
 and abused in the paper published there ; and one 
 of their number had even been grossly insulted 
 
 by a member of the Legislat ve Co n d o h' u ""'^f 7^f '^''^ ''''' <^°'"g- "■ ^^'^^^^ 
 Territory. A notice had^een ILed to tL t!^! ! ^'?! ^''**, ^^''^ .^^'^l^''^^ '^^ Committee much 
 
 Territory. A notice had been affixed to the door 
 
 Heri f .T'"'^ '''°'"' ^'"^^-^ by "Captain 
 Hemp, for the citizen;^ of Leavenworth," warning 
 Messrs. Howard and Sherman to change their 
 coui-se, or prepare to meet the consequences. 
 ?,r;.i?ri ;' Rol^-ison, who had been seized and 
 rortibiy taken from a steamboat at Lexington Mis- 
 souri, 1,1 the early part of the month of May, and 
 
 assistance, by giving them information, and con- 
 ducting examinations before them, Marcus J. Par- 
 rott, and others, were arrested, and all confined 
 in a warehouse used by the Pro-Slavery party as 
 a depot for arms and ammunition. Steps were 
 at once taken, by Jlessrs. Howard and Sherman, 
 to sue out a writ of habeas corpus before Judge 
 Lecompte, then at his residence near the city • 
 
13 
 
 and they desisted only upon representations be- 
 ing made to them, by ProSLavery men friendly 
 to the parties arrested, that such a course would 
 endanger their lives after their release. 
 
 Some of these persons were released after a 
 few hours detention ; others were kept for one or 
 two days, but all told, on their release, that they 
 must immediately leave the Territory. Judge 
 Conway was waited on at his lodging after his 
 release, and conducted to a steamboat then on 
 its way down the river, and with his baggage put 
 on board, and ordered not to return. Marcus J. 
 Parrott, while under orders to leave the Territory 
 by a given time, was brought before the Con- 
 gressional Committee, and examined in behalf of 
 the Pro-Slavery party of the Territory. The 
 Committee were not aware that he had been 
 ordered to leave, or 'they would have refused 
 to examine him while under duress. They re- 
 fused most peremptorily to suffer Mr. Moore to 
 be examined before them, when he was i)rought 
 into the room in custody of one of his jailors. The 
 counsel for J. W. "Whitfield, Colonel John Scott, of 
 St. Joseph's, Missouri, presented to the chairman 
 of the Congressional Committee a paper contain- 
 ing a list of some thirty-five or forty names of 
 Free State men who had been })roscribed by the 
 Committee of Vigilance, with the request that he 
 TTOuld mark the names of those he would desire 
 to examine as witnesses, stating afterwards that 
 no one who waa to be a witness before the In- 
 vestigating Committee would be ordered to leave 
 nntil after he had given in his testimony. 
 
 Free State men were daily notified to leave 
 the Territory, not to return. Guards were placed 
 ou all the roads leading into the interior of the 
 Territory, to prevent any from going in that di- 
 rection ; and though some succeederl in making 
 their escape, they were pursued and fired upon 
 whenever discovered. Threats were made, that 
 the house where the Committee and its attaches 
 were staying would be attacked, the Committee 
 lynched, and the testimony they had taken de- 
 stroyed. Threats were also made, that Dr. Rob- 
 inson would be seized and hung ; and so menacing 
 did they became, that Captain J. W. Martin, who 
 was guarding the prisoner, deemed it necessary 
 to call out the Kickapoo Rangers, whom he 
 commanded. They obeyed the call of their cap- 
 tain, and appeared in numbers sufficient to over- 
 awe anj' attempt to execute those threats. This 
 state of things continued in Leavenworth until 
 8ome time during the first week in June, when 
 Colonel Sumner ordered the committee of vigil- 
 ance to revoke their orders of eximlsion, and to 
 disperse; since which time, nothing of the kind 
 has been attempted there. 
 
 While the Committee were in session in the 
 city of Leavenworth, some of the letters stolen 
 from the trunk of Governor A. U. Reeder, at the 
 sacking of [jawrence, were offered in evidence 
 before the Congressional Committee. Thej'' were 
 promptly ruled out by the majority of the Com- 
 mittee. They were again oflered in evidence at 
 Westport, Missouri, and again rejected. They 
 have since been published in the newspapers, and 
 also in the appendix to the minority report of the 
 Inyestigatino; Committee. 
 
 While these occurrences were taking place in 
 Leavenworth, the other portions of the Territory 
 were not exempt from execitement and turmoil. 
 Small bands of armed men and of United States 
 troops were marching from place to place, arrest- 
 ing or seeking to arrest the prominent Free 
 State men of the Territory. G. W. Brown, the 
 editor of the Herald of Freedom, published at 
 Lawrence, and Gaius Jenkins, were seized at or 
 near Westport, and detained until the Territorial 
 authorities sent for them, when they were taken 
 with others to Lecompton, and placed under a 
 guard of the United States troops. In one in- 
 stance, on the 30th of May, Governor Shannon 
 himself accompanied Colonel Titus and Colonel 
 Preston, with thirty or forty United States troops, 
 to the house of Mr. Hazeltine, near IJIoomiogton. 
 There were no persons in the house exce;;t the 
 wife of Mr. Hazeltine and their children, the old- 
 est of whom was but five years of age. They 
 proceeded to search the house, Governor Shan-^ 
 non remaining outside, armed with a Sharpe's 
 rifle. After Colonel Preston had searched the 
 house, the Governor ordered Col. Titus to search 
 it again, saying, " God damn him, he is there." 
 Mrs. -H. asked the Governor what her husband 
 had done. He replied, "God damn him, I will 
 show him, if I get hold of him. I will tear his 
 God damned black heart out of him ; and if you 
 don't look out, you will share the same fate, God 
 damn you." After remaining there about three 
 quarters of an hour, during which time thej' con- 
 tinued to curse and abuse the sick and helpless 
 wife, tliey left, threatening vengeance on Mr. 
 Hazeltine, should they succeed in finding him. 
 
 Captain Pate and his party had proceeded on 
 their way to Ossawatomie, by the 2d of June, 
 as far as a place called Black Jack, where they 
 were met by a party of Free State men of not 
 more than their own number, and surrendered 
 to them. Before the surrender took place, three 
 of this party, among whom was Coleman, of Dow- 
 murder notoriety, made their escape to West- 
 port. A large company, composed of some of 
 Colonel Buford's party, of Missourians, and others, 
 were immediately mustered, and they left that 
 day, accompanied by J. W. Whitfield, the sitting 
 Delegate from Kansas Territory, for the purpose 
 of assisting Captain Pate and his party. Before 
 they reached him, however, he had been liber- 
 ated by order of Colonel Sumner, who had hast- 
 ened, with the troops under his command, to the 
 scene of disturbance. Pate and his party, and 
 Whitfield and his party, were ordered to re- 
 turn to Missouri, which they did to some extent. 
 Upon learning that Colonel Sumner with his 
 troops had gone to another portion of the Terri- 
 tory, bands of men from Missouri were imme- 
 diately organized and marched into the Territory. 
 Hundreds of armed men passed through West- 
 port ; in one instance, some sixty of them march- 
 ing into tlie Territory as Governor Shannon came 
 out, to attend the Congressional Committee who 
 had summoned him. He paid no attention what- 
 ever to the movements of these armed bands, 
 which he saw at AVestport, and also at Kansas 
 city — at the latter place, a party coming across 
 the ferry from Clay county, and procteding to 
 
14 
 
 the Territory. They were armed with guns, pis- 
 tols, and bowie-knives, were on horseback, and 
 had waijons, tents, and provisions, with them. 
 They were occasionally met by Colonel Sumner 
 and his troops, and ordered back ; but as fast 
 as they were driven out at one point, they imme- 
 diately re-entered at another. 
 
 A camp of armed men had been established just 
 within the Territorial line, near Westport, known 
 generally as Colonel Buford's camp. All wagons 
 and persons passing that way were stopped and 
 searcbed by them, and in one instance they put 
 ropes about the necks of two Free State men 
 going into the Territory, and strung them up to 
 a tree, and lowered them again, until they prom- 
 ised to leave the Territory. Mr. Upton, the ser- 
 geant-at-arms of the Committee, was taken pris- 
 oner by them, and threats of hanging him made. 
 Some of the citizens of Westport, however, did 
 not approve of this, and, at the request of Major 
 Oliver, sent out one of their number to procure 
 ,Mr. Upton's release. He was released before he 
 arrived, but he gave him a pass, addressed to 
 " Pro-Slavery men," to protect him while going 
 up into tlie Territory. Wagons of emigrants were 
 stopped at mid-day in Westport, their contents 
 thoroughly searched, and all arms and ammuni- 
 tion taken away, before they were permitted to 
 go into the Territory, if indeed they were not 
 prevented from doing so. A companj- proceeded 
 to Ossawatomie the second time, and searched 
 and plundered the Free State houses there, steal- 
 ing guns and horses where they could be found. 
 
 A proclamation had been issued by Governor 
 Shannon, commanding all persons assembled in 
 military organizations, not connected with the 
 militia of the Territory, to disperse, warning them 
 that if thejr failed to do so, the United States 
 troops would be used for that purpose. Many 
 connected with these armed bands, from Missouri 
 and elsewhere, affected to consider this procla- 
 mation as applying only to the companies of 
 Free State men which had been organized for 
 self-defence ; others said they would apply to be 
 received into and incorporated with the militia 
 of the Territory; and if this was refused them, 
 they would proceed to act on their own account. 
 and would defy the Governor or Colonel Sumner 
 and his force to drive them off. 
 
 The prisoners in the camp at Lecompton had 
 obtained a promise from Judge Lecornpte of a 
 hearing early in June, and had engaged counsel 
 to be in attenilance on the day appointed i'or that 
 purpose, to mmage their cases for them. The 
 day came and passed without the judge ap- 
 pearing, and they were told that they must re- 
 main iu confinement until the fall term, when 
 they would be put on trial. Judge Conway had 
 proceeded to Lecompton, to be pr.-^sent at the time 
 appointed for hearing, but was ordered to leave 
 town in fifteen minutes. He applied to the Govern- 
 or for protection, but he either could not or would 
 not grant it to him, and he was obliged to leave. 
 While in Fvansas cit_y, on his return, he was again 
 taken by the mob, and only released upon assur- 
 ing them that he was merely waiting for a boat 
 to arrive, to go down the river. 
 
 On the 29t,li of May, warrants were issued by 
 
 Judge Cato, of the second judicial district of the 
 Territory, for the arrest of eight persons living at 
 Ossawatomie, on the charge of treason against 
 the United States. They were accordingly ar- 
 rested, and after being kept about two weeks near 
 where they were taken, guarded by United States 
 troops, who had been ordered to keep them in 
 irons most of the time, orders were received for 
 the removal of the prisoners to Tecumseh. They 
 were chained two by two, by taking a common 
 trace chain, and using a padlock at each end, 
 so fixed as to make a close clasp around the an- 
 kle. They were then driven on foot the whole 
 distance, at the rate of twenty-five miles a day. 
 The heat of the sun, and the tortures they ex- 
 perienced from their chains, so affected one of 
 them that he became insane, and another was so 
 reduced in strength that he was permitted to ride 
 hy their drivers. They were taken before Edward 
 Iloogland, a United States commissioner, at Te- 
 cumseh, and there examined for committal, to an- 
 swer the charge against them. The evidence ad- 
 duced against one of the parties was so flimsy, 
 that he was not only discharged, but his name 
 ordered to be stricken out of all papers connected 
 with the case. Of the others, all were discharged 
 from custody but three, two of whom were mem- 
 bers of the State Legislature, to meet at Topeka 
 on the 4th of July. 
 
 The State Legislature elected in January last, 
 under the Topeka Constitution, had met on the 
 4th of March, elected United States Senators, 
 drawn up a memorial to Congress, praying ad- 
 missiou into the Union as a State, performed 
 other legislative acts, and then adjourned, to 
 meet on the coming anniversary of American 
 Independence. The Pro-Slavery authorities of 
 the Territory and the President of the United 
 States were determined to prevent their meeting. 
 In pursuance to orders from the President, Colo- 
 nel Sumner appeared at Topeka on the 4th of 
 July, with two hundred dragoons and some can- 
 non, which he planted so as to command the street 
 leading to the Hall where the Legislature was 
 exi)ected to assemble. He then proceeded to the 
 Hall, and ordered them to disperse, telling them 
 that, if necessary, he should use the whole force 
 under his command to carry out his instructions. 
 The Legislature accordingly dispersed. 
 
 Everything havingbeen done to subdue the Free 
 State citizens of the Territory, the people of Mis- 
 souri proceeded to take measures to prevent the 
 emigration into the Territory of persons from 
 N'orthern and Eastern States. Companies of 
 armed citizens of Missouri have been stationed 
 and cannon planted at all the principal landings 
 on the Missouri river. Every steamboat passing 
 up the river is forcibly compelled to submit to be- 
 ing searched ; and whenever Eastern emigrants 
 are found on board, they are disarmed and robbed, 
 and forced to return to the free States. In con- 
 sequence of this, the tide of emigration has been 
 turned to the route leading through Iowa, and Ne- 
 'oraska. To meet that difficulty, the Pro-Slavery 
 party are stationing armed bands at the principal 
 roads leading from the north into the Territoiy, 
 avowing their determination to drive back all Free 
 State men who may seek to enter in that direc- 
 
15 
 
 tion. Colonel Sumner, who was suspected of 
 sympathy with the Free State party, and who has 
 always shown himself determined to act justly 1 
 and honorably towards all parties, has been su- 
 perseded, and General Persifer F. Smith under- 
 stood to favor the Pro-Slavery party, ordered to 
 take command in his stead. _ 
 
 Strin<rfellow, Atchison, and associutes have 
 issued tuldresses to the people of the South call- 
 ing: upon them to raise men and means, and sena 
 them to Kansas, to secure the maldng_ it a slave 
 State The citizens of Missouri are raising money 
 and provisions, to aid in the support ot Southern 
 ■ emic^rants until after the coming election, (gen- 
 eral Strinarfellow and others have issued a call 
 to citizens^of Missouri, to go over into the Terri- 
 tory, in order to have a legal right to vote at the 
 election expected to come off this fall, under the 
 bill of Senator Toombs, or some similar one lor 
 dele<rates to a Convention to frame a State Con- 
 stitution. Hundreds of citizens of Missouri have 
 already gone, or are making preparations to go, 
 into the Territory, avowing their sole object to 
 be to establish the institution of Slavery there. 
 
 The condition of Kansas at the present time, 
 August, 185r,, may be summed up in ^^ tew words: 
 The prominent Free State men arrested on tuvo- 
 lous pretexts, and held in conbnemeiit under 
 guard' f United St.tes troops ; the Free Sta e 
 Portion of the population suffering under a tyr- 
 TanyTud oppression they cannot resist, suppor ed 
 as it is by the Territorial and Federal au horities ; 
 Lndreds of them driven from their homes to 
 seek shelter and protection in the Eastern and 
 
 Northern States; Free State emigrants forcibly 
 prevented from passing up that great national 
 highway, the Missouri river, and, when seeking 
 to enter in another direction, threatened with re- 
 sistance by armed forces preparing to drive them 
 back while none of these difficulties are en- 
 countered by emigrants who favor the es- 
 tablishment of Slavery in Kansas by any and 
 every means, but, on the contrary, every facility is 
 afforded them for entering the Territory, and 
 means furnished them for their support alter 
 they arrive. 
 
 The President of the United States has given 
 the aid of his sanction to these proceedings, and 
 his removal of the Governor who has done all 
 in his power to bring about the present statue ot 
 thino-s has been made at so late a day as to show 
 condusively that his conduct in that respect 
 could not have furnished the reason for his re- 
 moval Tlie Convention at Cincinnati has en- 
 dorsed the course of the present Administration, 
 and the candidates nominated by that body stand 
 pledcred to consummate the work that has been 
 already begun. .The party in Congress represented 
 in that Convention, and in favor of the candidates 
 there nominated, have labored successfully to de- 
 feat all eflbrts that have been made to extend re- 
 lief to the suffering people of Kansas. 
 
 The American people are now called upon to 
 pronounce their verdict upon the a,cts of those 
 they have placed in power. Let them ponder 
 well upon these things, and show by their vote 
 in ^■o^ ember next what that verdict shall be. 
 
* WASHINGTON, D. 0. 
 
 ySLL & ELANCHARD, PRINTERS. 
 
 1856. 
 
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