The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1856-06-19
From the Chicago Times.
A Striking Coincidence.

In the Territory Of Kansas there is a cit
called Lawrence. In the State of Masss
chusetts there is also city called Lawrence
indeed the former was named after the la,
ter, and intended, like the latter, to do hon
/; or to the name of family widely and favor
ab'y known as merchants, throughout th
Union. The city of lawrence in Kansas
has lately been made the theatre of scene
OF violence. A Sheriff and posse of TWEEN
! ty men have taken possession peaceabIy O
4, the guns, cannons, and ammunition whicl
y had been gathered for the avowed purpose o
resisting the laws of the land, and shooting
: down the officers and constituted authorities
, OF the Territory. Over this COURAGE" this
"horrble atrocity," this "fendsh pursuit o.
: ireemen," as Reeder called it, the Abolition
papers ofChicago and of the country are
bowling with excessive JUNCTION.
We wish to call up to the minds Of these
men, and to spread before the rejecting and
intelligent men ofthe day, brief chapter
IN the history of the country, and chapter
not two years old
In the month of July, 1854, q few brief
hours after the celebration, of the glorious
anniversary Of independence, band of
"Rutfans' twelve hundred strong living in
and about the City OF Lawrence. in the State
OF Massachuselts--th0t soil, which Sumner
calls his home, and wherein the abolition
lists declare no man can stand except as an
equal in the eyes of God and man;-in that
city OF Lawrence, in the State Of Massachu-
sets, on the 9th day of July, 1854, this hard
of 200 "Massachusetts freemen" without
one word of provocation, assaulted at mid
night the humble tenements and cabins, in
habited by free white laborers, and their
families, and in two hours levelled forty of
those dwellings of the poor. In vain did
women shrek for mercy at the hands ofI
Massachusetts freemen;', in vain did chill
dren implore that aged parents be allowed
to clothe themselves in their usual garments,
the ears offs Massachusetts freemen" were
deaf to all such appeals. In vain did the
husband ask that the humble roof which shell !
tered the person of his wife then in the pangs
of childbirth, be not fred until he could
procure another place for the agonized wife
and anticipated babe! The hearts of"Mas-
sachusetts freemen" inhabiting the getty OF
Lawrence" refused the prayer, and thrust
ing wife and husband out upon the barren
fields, where with no other canopy than that
afforded by the stars, child was born on
the soil of humanity loving Massa chusetts !
These things occurred in Lawrence, in the
State of Massachusetts and who ever read
an article in the abolition papers Of the coun-
try calling on men and money to defend the
homes of those free white laborers, outraged
and torn down in the City of Lawrence in
the Free State of Massachusetts,!
One of the victims of that nights atroci-
ty in Lawrence, Massachusetts,. was sadly
injured by blow from stone cast by one
of the rufians: both he and his ruffian assail-
ant came to Chicago; the latter stalks the
streets, bawling for freedom in Kansas,
while the former reposes in the cemetery, .
fastened to an untimely grave by the ruff
anism OF the "freemen of Massachusetts" :, !
committed in the City of Lawrence! si
The free white laborers of that city Law
renee, resolved to submit to no repetition of
the outrage of the "freemen of Lawrence.
One of them, now citizen of Chicago re. r
paired to Boston, and there purchased for '
The use of himself and his companions, and c
10 defend themselves and their wives and d
children from violence, sufficient number
IF guns, pistols, and powder and ball.
These were packed In boxes and conveyed b
o Lawrence. Upon their arrival there, s,
select number of the ruffians waylaid the
wagon, and attempted to carry offthe boxes Il
the weapons of defence the
river succeeded in reaching the house of
he owner. and there for an hour the contest :.
vas waged in the streets OF the city of Law
SuOo ~ SuO thCC ObuSC W
whether free white men were entitled to the
Constitutional privilege of keeping arms CT
The arms were -soor put into the hands for W
'hich they were designed, and then by arm tn
d force these men drove back the rufiians, OF
nd vindicated their own consiitutionaly- to
ured liberty. The Mayor and the author-
es of that city of Lawrence, seconded the
emaBd of the Massachusetts, rufiians that
lese guns should be delivered up. Who in
as ever heard that this reckless, brutal out wi
lge, committed by the ffreemen of Massa.
,nsettsp in the free city of Lawrence, call
forth one word Of condemnation from any th
those presses which are now filed with Pr
'ch indignant ipyectives against Sheriff it
ines and bis, posse, who have taken posses tn,
on Of the other city Of Lawrence in the : I
erritory Of Kansas. The owner of these str
uskets, purshased, as We have said, to de- an
nd the very hearthstohes Of free white alo
en- in Lawrence, Mssssc schasstts, was that dos
e.as fsss : + sa- l.4 A.