Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1856-10-03
Correspondence Of The. Pittsburgh d 'S. !
letter from "a PlttsbnrgIfUI ~
Kansas. - 49,
FoRT LEAvENwoErH, Sept. 9th, 1856.

FoRT LEAvENwoArH, Sept. 9th, 1856 !.
Dear Sir:-you have pefhaps thought
strange that l have not heretofore writtens
q word to you about our troubles here. It.
is because have been very cautioug that r z
might not give offence to either party, but :
more especially because / openly declared
that never was an abolitionist, but on the
contrary pro-slavery man as they might
naturally suppose being raised in New
Orleans. Yet when man by the name Of :
Chas. Fugett some three weeks ago made's
a bet of IS, agaiast'a pair Of boots, ( AiOnss>
day, 3o'clock, P. M, that he would haYal 6
an abolitionist's scalp before night, and won
the bet by shooting and scalping poor
Hops within two miles Of the City, and
tapped the scalp around among comrades
boastingly during the night, expressed
my Mortified feelings at such barbarism.
was marked out as victim also, but
kept quiet, till, Ibeieve, last Tuesday week
a Dutchman came into the city from Le-
compton, and was shot dead before my
eyes for telling a few Of us what Lane was
about Here, again, condemned the bar
barity, and this again set them to work to
inquire who, or what was, and was told
that some man from the same part of Pa,
where | have lived for so long time testi-
fled that always was opposed to the extern
sion of slavery. This settled the matter.
Last Monday was the day ofthe Mayors
election. The night before at II o'clock
the alarm was given that Lane was coming
to town for the purpose Of getting all their
} men together. A number of inhammatory
speeches were made and the men ordered
to assemble early next morning at the May
or's Office; next to it was my own Office to
which went as usual last Monday NOR
ming and found the street crowded to jam
with armed citizens and Missourians, and
a COL Moore harangueing them, ordering
them to go and vote for Murphy the "Law
and Order" party candidate. When his,
speech ended Emorv's horse company rodes.
off to search free State houses, and disarpI
the men; they first went to the house q.
Jerrold Phillips where number of free.
State men boarded. William Phillips, his
: brother also boarded with him. William
\ had been driven to desperation by. their
former treatment last fall. He was tarred
E and feathered and driven off, he has had
his head half shaved and driven of, put on
raft and sent afoat One result of all
g this is that his poor wife is raving maniac
, in the lunatic asylum. When Emory got
to the house he ordered several of his men
to search the house, disarm and take the
Phillips's and hang them. They entered
| the house, when William P alone drove
, them all out and followed them to the door
where several shots were, fired at him; he
8 then shot one of his antagonists dead and
wounded several others, when she shimself
n received ball in the eye killing him hS
t stantly. His brother Dr. also receiye
D a buck shot in the arm, and .9ne in the SIDE;
the arm has been taken off and they will
yet kill him with the kind of treatment he
gets from the guard. His wife asks to take
care of him alone but this is refused This
G scene threw the city into flame of excite;
ment, and the Freemen were driven out,
q some without coat or hat or seeing stheir
!, families A party of rufians came to-aly
n house the next morning, and searched it
from cellar to loft, through trunks, women's
clothes, and everything and everywhere,
q and seemed to be so mad that they found
- - nothing in the fighting line, that they rob-
- - bed me of everything valuable, and at the
u point of the bayonet marched me down 10
- - the steamer Emma" and would have sent
o o me down the river if it had not been for the
y importuning of some friends met by the
- y boat. This gave me chance to escape to
= = the Fort-and | have since got my family
% % safely here, but have nothing left in the
y y world but the most of our bedding They
u have stolen my money and pressed many
IL things into their service. We are almost
= >, naked; and l am, as near as l can calculate
u $1,000 worse off than l was when l started
= . from Pittsburgh last April. In a word
IL IL everything is gone, and here l am with my
Is wife and eight children, with my business
destroyed-no money to live on or take me-
Ie away with, and living as you or no one els'
ever saw me living beforehand there are
y some so or 60 of us here in the same fix,
!: without house or home or shelter or means
IT several enciente women under tent on
the bare ground, expecting every hour to
ls be confneC--others with babes, one, two
ie and three weeks old, and several sick Bo-
a. men and children, all exposed to terrible
+ fate. You can never form correct idea
y till you pass such an ordeal, how we feel
le and there are many treated in the same wa!
who cannot run so easily to the Fort fol
Il protection, who have been driven OUT
o. had their crops, horses, and everything
TX else pressed to their service-many Of
g. themselves hunted like wild beasts, living
H. in the bushes upon nuts, berries, &c, and
g. many men are themselves pressed into the
T. Border Rufian ranks. Il was myself or
IN dered into the ranks by them, but was left
H. till could eat my dinner, and the posse
10 went to some other neighboring houses,
le during which time myself and my William
'u got into the bushes and escaped to the
y; Fort, leaving the balance of the family to
III fix up their beds that were left, which they
took on the hack, and came up to the
"a Fort the same night They also broughtmy
g instrument case, which now use to do my
le writing on. So much have to commence
$ the world with again. But, unless we and
is our partners in distress can obtain relief, the
IL good Lord only knows what's to become 0
IT, us. You will find, perhaps, several error