Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1856-03-03
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the Free State men of Lawrence; thew returp-
eu with Dltter curses upon the imbecile gov
ernor, whose proclamation had draw H..
from their homes. General Str;nafoi H.
whose pure taste the Senator from South c.
DINA can vouch for, denounced the treocb--
cry of Shannon. Capt Leonard, the lesder of
one OF these bands of border banditti. thronob
the columns of the st Joseph's Gazette a.
closes that your Governor ssraises storm
and then, to quell it, Judas like, processes his
special friendship, first for one party and then,
l conjecture, for the other. But, however
| this may be, he descends to the despicable no.
! sition ola common liar, both to the one party
and the other.
| GU may search the records of the country.
from the settlement at jamestown to this day.
and you can find no instance of such capacity.
folly and. superadded, such criminality, as
Wilson Shannon displayed on that occasion;
| or such utter disregard of the rights of the
| people as was manifested by the border set
| Tiers OF Missouri. l commend to the consid-
Grafton of the Senator from Missouri these
| pregnant questions of the st. Louis Dem
| oerat, paper published at his own home -.
| ''WhaJ right had these hordes of border
| bandltti to invade the soil of that Territorv
| and enlist themselves in support Of Governor
| Shannon What business had they there
What law, or what precedent would Justify
their interference in the affairs of free and
sovereign territory What right had Gov.
Shannon and Stringfelow to invite, encour-
age or countenance their presence in arms, in
commonwealth in which they were not citi.
zens Was there ever more glaring incon
sistency or more glazing outrage than that,
by which Shannon and his minions have
sought to overawe and crush portion of the
people OF Kanzas, by introducing lawless
desperadoes upon Their soil, armed to tina
teeth with weapons obtained bv breaking
open U. S. arsenal Has the civilized
world ever known more disgraceful, bar
barous and savage spectacle? p
This administration has now clothed Wilson
Shannon, whose incompetency has been made
manifest to the world, with civil and military
authority, and with all the power of the Gov
eminent to execute the laws and to maintain
order in the Territory. The duties assigned
this officer, in the present critical condition of
affairs, on your frontiers, are of the greatest
and most weighty character. Sir, YOUR ad-
ministration, by the wanton repeal of the Mis-
souri, prohibition; by the failure to protect
the actual residents of Kanzas in their rights:
and by the laundering and criminal remiss-
ness of the official authorities have broueht
the nation to the perilous edge Of civil war.
Sir, this administration owes it to the coun-
try, whose peace is in danger this day, to en-
trust the responsible and delicate duties of
governor OF hanzas, to prudent, judieious
sagaclous statesman-a man of individual
honor and personal character, in whom the
people can place the fullest confidence. Will
son Shannon is not that man. The man who
could descend to degrading companionship
around the gaming tables of those saloons of
San Francisco, described by that remarkable
traveller, Madame Ida Pfeffer, as the most
absolute she had ever seen in her tour of the
elobe--with Mexican Greasers, the escaped
convlcts of British penal colonies, and the
desperadoes of the old world and the new -
the man who could, while Kanzas was over
run by armed bands, summoned around Law
renee by his own reckless letters, dispatches.
and proclamations, while civil war lowered
by the assassin, lay cold IN death, ana 1' De-
voted wife was weeping over his mortal re-
mains; the man who could make himself the
derision of his enemies, and the pity of his
friends, by humiliatng exhibition of gross
intoxication, is not the man to whom tie
American people would entrust the affairs of
Kanzas.
call the attention of the Senate, Mr.. Pres
ident, to another foray over the borders--to
the fifth Missouri invasion. l mean the ir-
ruption into Kanzas on the 10Th OF Deem
Der, when the people We're called upon to vote
upon the constitution framed by that conven-
ton the Senator from Connecticut is pleased
to pronounce ''spurious." Along the Mis-
souri, border, the people in several Of the vot-
ing precincts were oyerawed by threats of i'm
pending violence, and meetings were not hol-
den. At Leavenworth the election was bro
ken up by the lawless brutality of men, many
of whom had been ordered to Leavenworth
ON that day to be formally discharged from
service in the Kanzas militia, into which they
had been incorporated, At the dinner hour,
while most of the people were absent from
the polls, these @ border ruffians' rushed up
on the officers, broke up the meeting, beat to
the earth Witherell, the clerk, whose life was
saved by the heroic daring of Brown, since
foully murdered, who rushed to his rescue at
a moment when the uplifted axe of the as
sassin was about to descend upon his PROSTATE
form.
On the 22d of December, another foray was
made upon freedom at Leadenwortb, and the
press of Mr.. Delahay, which barely escaped
on the 10th, was destroyed. This gentleman
is a native of Maryland, and has been slave
holder in his native State, in Alabama, and
in Missouri has little sympathy with anti
slavery men. He is simply one ofthose mod
crate, conservative men who believe that
g free labor is honorable and slave labor is
dishonorable,' and that the permanent inter-
ests of Kansas would be promoted by making
it a free commonwealth.
On the 10th of January, the people ofKan-
sas were called upon to elect officers under
the constitution adopted on the 10th Of De-
cember. Another assault upon the freedom
of the ballot box was made at Easton, by
armed men. An attempt was made to resist
the destruction of the ballot boxes by these
marauding squads that were providing over
the country, insulting the people, and rob
bling them of their means of defence. Peacea-
BILE, law-abiding citizens were hunted down,
fired upon, and their lives put in imminent
peril. Some of them had to flee to Lawrence,
as to city Of refuge, to save themselves from
the vengeance of the prowling assassins A
party OF these lawless desperadoes captured
Mr.. Brown-who SO bravely rescued Wither-
ell al Leavenworth-and several others, rob-
bed them of their arms. and then, with hatch
cts and knives, they fendishly hacked and
cut Brown to pieces, flung him in dying
condition into carriage, and bore him to his
home to breathe out his life in the arms of
his distracted wife, another sacrifice to the
dark spirit of slave propagandsm.
To-day, sir, unless they are ON their march,
there are arming and organizing in western
Missouri, in the Blue lodges, in the secret
camps, hosts of men for another INVASION
| Sleepless eyes are upon these movements, or
| ganized BY Atchison and his subalterns.--'
| General Lane and General Robinson sent TO
| the President, on the 2ist of January, tele-