Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1855-09-21
GurrssponStnft.


Letter from Francis Grasmuck.
With great pleasure we give our
readers the following letter from our
old friend Grasmuck. Few men who
have gone from the states, are more
capable Of giving plain matter-of-
fact view Of events than he. 1t will
be seen that he confirms what we have
often asserted, that among the actual
settlers a very large majority are in
favor OF freedom. His hope that the
Democrats who hav~put them in the
mud, will not forsake them, may be
realized. but it will be only by their
breaking away from the party in
power. Every act of the present adj
ministration has been to fasten the
yoke of oppression upon them. 1t
has succeeded ia removing the Cover
nor that was in the way Of the op pres.
sors. and appointing one that viii do
their bidding. If Governor Shannon
attempts to enforce the Missouri code
on the citizens Of Kansas, there will
be trouble.
TEcuMsEH. August eth, 1865.
I. A. GooDwIS.-Dear Strive
have now had nine days rain, the grass
in the prairie, and the bushes in the
timber. are wet, and therefore we
stay at The house. Ihavenow an easy
time TO write TO my friends. | have
often commenced to write you letter,
but it is to me a great task to do it in
English. and | have SO much 10 say TO
you, that 1 do not know where to be-
gin. All ofour domestic, religious and
political affairs would be interesting to
you, and since left home, several new
parties and associations, asthe X. Ms,
X. SIS and the Temperance law have
come into existence. l have my own
opinions Of all of them. and l would
write to you something about them.
but there are others nearer to my
heart-that is where we are 10 get
bread and clothing from. / could have
purchased a small farm at home. and
paid for it, but out here all we
had went off, in quick steps, for
provisions and clothing, at enormous
ly high prices. But now, thank God
we have our own potatoes. beans,
roasting ears, melons &c, &c. NY
corn, only three acres, is the best in
the neighborhood. / think it will
bring sixty bushel per acre. Altho'
we have to work very hard, and have
had bad times. we are all well. and
have been so ever since we came. ]
left home with the intention to never
settle IN German settlement, and ]
got among Missourians. 1t may look
dangerous to my friends at home on
account Of the trouble in existence be.
tween the Missourrians and those from
other States, but there is no fear fol
me or any other frce-soiler, among
them. We live together as the best o.
neighbors, and there are many among
them who are free soil and Of German
descent. The country around us here
Is fertile. healthy and delightful, ant
is thickly settled. The free .soiler'
drop in one by one, and we vii
soon have majority in our pro-slave
ry district There was a strong pros
pect that Tecumseh would lie the place
of the Capital, but it fell through, and
Lecompton. IL miles below us. on the
Kansas River. was chosen.
Now, although we have all los
thereby. we Free soilers have sport a,
our Missouri neighbors. Now. they
condemn their own work, their Legisla'
ture and their law, and they say their
proceedings are all wrong. and illegal
Trey were all elected by Missourians
Our old friend and neighbor, the In.
diana American, comes TO see US
regularly, and we are all glad to see it.
Its sentiments agree with our own,
it is not afraid to speak out.
Last Saturday, the 25th, l attended
the first political free-soil meeting al
Topica, 4miles above us. ! saw there,
for the first time. many live Yankees,
and other settlers from different States
We will now get acquainted with each
other. We organized, and we find
that we outnumber the pro-slaveryites
8 to /. We also nominated delegates
to convention to nominate our can
didate for Congress. One great ques.
ton is now before the people of this
Territory, viz: Can we-and shall we,
as free American citizens, obey and
respect such bad and tyrannical laws
as the men who are elected by Missou-
ri make for us?
Anybody is a voter here for one
dollar in advance. They have put
the yoke on our neck heavy enough as
you see. Are these acts and proceed
ings lawful? 1t seems that they are. be-
cause Gov. Reeder gave the majority
of them certificates. This body ap-
points every officer over us. and gives
them great power. Will our Demo
cratic friends, who put the public
wagon in the mire out here, forsake us,
the poor down trodden frontier? II
appears to me. that they take side
with the Missourians, and sacrifice us
as well as that old Democrat, Gov,
Reeder. Yours truly,
FRANCIS GRASMUCK. F