Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1856-09-11
Marshal Donaldson summoned us all to

w Ilat COulU UO! Was Wltucul moucy.
Twas called upon by the authority of the
United States. When heard the sum-
mons, it felt like ice upon my heart. Could
l 90 there to fight against the Freemen of
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and other Free
States? If l did, for what did l fight
them? For being honest, industrious men !;
men who had infused new life into the Kan
sas wilds; built hotels; set up tradeshops
and mechanics branches, and titled the soil
of Kansas by labor of the Free! Ieould'nt
come from Columbus, Alabama, if they
could 90 there and fight those innocent
men! They said no. Well, then said |,
if you will follow my directions we will get
away. But how! | would see to that
myself They agreed to make the attempt
under my leadership. Accordingly that
night | went to Pro-slavery owner of the
only boat in that vicinity, and made pre-
tence that | wished to set trout-line in
the river, and wished he would keep quiet
about it as some of the men might know
of it and take the fish l caught. To this
he agreed, with the proviso that l should
bring it back in an hour or two, as he
wanted to ferry some one across the river
every little while, If he wanted it he
would blow his horn, and must immedi-
ateIy return with the craft. l promised
him that he might blow his horn, and when
IAeard It, he might look for me directly.
We smuggled provisions from the encamp-
ment Oh board our boat and started down
stream, pulling through the darkness for
dear life.
The next morning at daybreak we were
within sight of Lawrence, and hauled our
boat into the bushes TO secrete ourselves
for the day. The morning sun arose and
ushered in the day which is celebrated as
the day of sacking of Lawrence. From
our concealment We could see upon the hill
overlooking the fated city, the cannon
planted, and the cavalry of the United
States drawn up in battle order. We saw
the hotel battered by the cannon ball, and
saw the explosion when the two kegs of
ignited gunpowder sent the building into
the air.
The night coming, we proceeded on our
way. When at last st. Louis burst upon
our sight, Ross, man whose father owned
sixty slaves, and five of his own, said ::
| 'There is Heaven to me-" During our
journey, it is true, we appropriated to our
use such things us We're necessary for our
subsistence, without leave of the owners
thereof Those will blame us who have
never been driven to the desperation to
| which we had arrived. Nature has callings
which will be heard above the pleadings of
the strictest morality. We were fleeing
for our lives from those who would set our
lives at less value than straw, had they
known that our hearts reyolted at the at
trocities we had been called upon to per-
form in the name of "law and order"
While under Donaldson's command, We
were ordered to take what we wanted and
could find in possession of the Free State
men. We were strictly forbidden taking
the smallest article from Pro-slayery man
without paying its price. Joseph True of
Alabama, at one time took rifle from a
Missourian. Buford ordered him to be
hung. The rope rope was placed over his
neck, but by strong intercession of the par
ty, punishment was commuted to Chain
and ball.
In one of the helish forays upon which
of Free State men. They resisted cur "a
king away their property, and Buford's mer
left two of them dead upon the grass! I!
When we were in the Shawnee Country,
we were invited to call at one of the Mis-
sion Churches by the chief of the tribe.
AS the doors opened before us, what sight
presented itself! Three Massachusetts,
men were hanging by the neck. For dar-
ing to say they were Free Soil, two had
been shot and one stabbed to the heart,
and they were hung up to strike terror to
people from the East. -Four days after,
one of Bufords men came into the camp,
holding upon the point of bowie-knife a
human heart! "Boys," said he, "see here,
here is the heart of damned AbOlitionist; !;
he told me he was an Abolitlonist, and |
up with my rifle and drapped him; cut
his heart out, and it amt cold yet; now I'll
cut it open and see how it looks inside;
then I'll fry it and see how the damned
thing tastes"
After l arrived home, l saw in my ia
ther's house paper which has been a
weekly visitor ever since l can remember
the Columbian Register of New Haven.
My blood boiled with Indignation as | saw
in that paper that "all was peaceable III
Kansas" "all these stories of murder in
Kansas are false;;" "alI wrongs in Kansas
are done by the Free State men" call for
political effect" DC, and | threw it down,
and said to my father, "Fathcr, that paper
LIEsm
In 80 I voted the Democratic ticket, for
Franklin Pierce; and after all have seen
in Kansas, shall, living until November.
again vote the Democratic ticket, and cast
my vote and influence for J. C. Fremont.
Cheers. After all the wrong done Free
men in Kansas, this bogus Democracy
would not believe, or would not profess to
believe, the accounts of them, even if the
whole country-I had almost said, heaven
itsef-should appear as witness to the fact.
But let man see what / have seen, hear
what | have heard, and then, if he can sat
isfy his conscience or his God, let him vote
for james Buchanan, whom the South looks
OH to continue these wrongs, unless the
Free'men of Kansas can protect their rights,
which they cannot do unless they have
foreign aid. No Northern man who knew
how the wives and husbands, sisters, daugh-
tiers and brothers in Kansas hcve suffered
at the hands of the Pro-slavery party there,
could vote for James Buchanan.