Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-09-10

load of provisions of his horses, and all the
money he happened to have in his pocket, and
too frequently his body left cold and dead
upon the ground. a gentleman who passed
the camp of these rufans at Battle Creek, on
the California road, saw seven bodies lying on
the ground. Lieut. Drum, of the U. .. Army
communicated to friend of mine that IN ano-
ther place he found five murdered men, and
buried them. Add to this, that the bodies OF
men, murdered by those ruffians, are iound eV- |
erywhere. then you may have some idea OF the |
state of things that existed when these men |
held the keys of the Territory. Thus they |
hoped by this sort of process, that having Ia
ken away all the political and civil rights, by |
closing against us the courts of justice, by re-
fusing to allow Free-State men to serve upon
grand or petit juries, by denying them all Ju-
dicial remedy for all judicial wrong, using the
law to press and grind them down, by deprlv- |
ing them of their leaders, of their presses ana
of their hotels, as rallying points. and then,
deprivng them of their arms-for our arms
were taken at the cities of Lexington andkan-
sas, and still further on at the towns OF W est
port and Franklin, well as at the saeking OF
Lawrence and, finally, arms were stolen from
the settlers cabins and bodies by mobs of
men. They hoped at last that this Free-state
party, thus plundered of everything to give
them organization and efficiency, deprived OF
everything by which they could carry out their
concerted plans, would be broken down, inti-
Undated, disorganized and crushcd and the
gates of the Territory must be closed against
| the ingress of any new citizens One OF the
great highways of the nation was commanded
| by cannon, small arms and mobs of men upon
| its banks, and free citizens from your midst
| are there plundered of their arms, and COM
PEELED to return whence they came. This work
| goes on, as tell You, step by step, ana am
| afraid that it has been too mucn the case IN
| States to look upon these outbreaks as events
| due to some sudden excitement, as you would
| look upon an affray upon your own streets,
1 harrN nvj, ont of no
| ing circumstances, having its origin there up
4 on the spot, and having its end when the I'M
| mediate violence was over. tell you, my
| friends, if you have entertained such an opln-
| ion of the state OF things in Kansas, You have
| been grossly mistaken. All these outrages are
| due to premeditaton, they have all been re-
| resolved upon in council, and all form part
| of this great plan. They have been pushing
that plan step by step towards its conSumation.
| How near has it arrived to that consuniatlon
| On the first Monday of October, 1896, we are
| to have another election, and you Will perhaps
| be startled when tell you that it requires but
| two elections, and will! probably occupy but
| six or eight months more, before Slave Con-
| stitution will be adopted by Kansas, to oe SUP
| mitted to the Congress of the United States.
| 1t is so, nevertheless. [Cheers. On the lSt
Monday of October, 1856, election is to be
held under the authority of the bogus Terrific
rial Legislature, at which the people are to
| vote, Convention or No Convention. Every
| preparation has been made to carry tnat ciec-
| ton as they have carried all the previous Ones
| The men who are to conduct that election are
| all elected and picked expressly tor the pur-
pose. They are picked by the Board OF Coun-
ty Commissioners, and they will be picked
| with especial reference to the work winch they
are required to do. Large bodies of armed
men Will be sent from the State of Missouri
| to surround the polls at this election, and TO
control them but observe, my friends, the
ingenuity with which this thing is managed
| They don't like to risk the shock which pub
lie opinion might receive in The South, as Wen
as in the North, by parading those armed men
around the polls in the same manner IN which
it was done on the 30th of March, 1880. they
have taken care to provide that those bands OF
armed rufians who are TO control our polls on
the first Monday of October shall be there ac-
cording to law. This may seem strange to
you but men who can burn houses according
to law, who can steal horses according to law,
who can steal arms according to law, who can
murder men according to law-can find little
difficulty in arranging this part of the pro-
| gramme. fApplIuse.] They have according
/ ly provided that on the first Monday of Octo-
| Der, 1856, there shall be great militia training
in every County in the Territory. Laughter
/, When we complain to our brethren OF theStates
/ that on the day of this election each poll was
surrounded by bodies of armed men, we'll be
told by the Ruffians at home and hy their apol-
ogists here that it was legal militia-training
TCheersl. That elec ton will be held. Does
some one say to me that this can be prevented
by the army of the United States-that the
troops of the United States will be sent out
there to prevent this invasion. Without stop
ping to discuss the question whether they Will
or will not, it is enough for me TO say that no
matter whether the army is there or not, that
election will be carried. No army officer can
interfere between corrupt and perlured Judges
in the subjugation of the Free-State men-no
| army officer, whether he be General Smith or
| Simmer. interfere between j
and the voter, in putting stop to the corrup-
ton that will control that election. l tell you
that in the present state of things our people
| will not app roach these polls, because 1t Will
be hopeless effort. This whole work is per-
formed with the exception of the last grand
act. The Legislature meet; they order one
more election of delegates to Constitutional
, Convention. Those delegates are elected in
the same way, and the work is done; and it
only remains for them to come together to
adopt Slave Constitution and send ii TO Con-
gress for admission into the Union. This con-
test is transferred from the plains of Kansas
to the halls OF Congress, and it will there be
battled by you. Then comes the issue about
December, 1857, upon the admission of Kan
, sas into the Union, before the next Congress.
/ would that / had a trumpet voice to pro-
{ claim to every man in this land that the man
he votes for Representative in the House in
the Fall of 1856, will be the man who musi
choose between the Free-State Constitution
t adopted at Topeka and between the Slave
3 State Constitution which will be adopted some
4 where else. [Applause.[ 1 want the coun.
r try to see that this issue will come, ana want
D every man to fix his eye upon tins event Whcn
4 is coming and Just as certainly as the sun VIII
+ rise tomorrow. / want hinl 10 see the llme
n and the place where il will come. want him
4 TO be faithful to his duty in the premises, and
Q | 70 see that when it comes il will be properly