Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1856-10-17
Later from Kansas-HOrribIe Outrage on
kentucky woman.
CHIcAeo, o.. eth, Is56.

kentucky Woman.
From the Chicago Tribune.
CHICAGO, Oct. 9th, 1856.
MeSSrS Editors Passing thorugh this
city, on my way home TO Allegan, Michigan,
direct from Lecompton Kansas, which place
I left on the 9th ult., give you the state
of affairs in the territory as near as l can.
When l left Kansas, so far as l could
learn, the Free State men had generally
decided not to vote at the election for mem
bers of the legislature held to day.-In the
act of voting they fear that they would re-
cognize as valid the laws of the territory,
and this they will not do. They will prob
ably keep away from the polls altogeth-
er, aud suffer the pro-Slavery men, aided by
their Missouri allies, to elect whom they
please. At least, this is the general i'm
preston.
When left Lecompton, there wero one
hundred Free State men confined there on
the charge of murder. They were kept in
house twenty by thirty feet, containing
only two floors, and of course their quarters
were narrow and uncomfortable. They
were strictly guarded by United States
troops; and a loaded field piece, planted
near the door served as reminder that
they must not rise against their masters.
These men have been dragged from their
families and homes upon ridiculous charges
and insufficient testimony. Failing to the
laws of their own making and to their own
officers, to cripple our best and most deter
,,,1,,ol Er,h4tnrr Love. fbnrr ,,,,ll
be held in confinement they do not know;
but as most of them have been committed
for trial by Judge Cato, it is not probable
that they will soon be released. In the
meantime their wives and little ones must
take care of themselves.
A call has been issued to the pro slave
ry men for all their men to attend the cleo
ton, and vote for men who are ''sound on
the goose" This call has been extensively
circulated in Missouri. Coming down, l
met with it in various places and more than
that, l met many of the Missourians and
others responding to it. At Atchison 1
saw party of Georgians, just in, who were
swearing that they were come to ''beat or
bleed" Of course they will be manufac-
tured into legal voters. At Shelbyville we
saw party mastering for service in the ter
ritory. They were drawn up near the rope
walk, and Col. Shelby was addressing them
on the horrors of abolitionism and the enor-
mites of Free State men. In other places
along the route l was told that the same
musterings were taking place, and for the
same purpose. They are all evidently Ia
boring under the delusion that the Free
State men were paying obedience to the
bogus laws by which the election is ordered.
Mistaken souls!
Outrages in the territory continue to be
of frequent occurrences. They come from
the most part from the predatory bands of
Georgians who are rowing around for the
purposes of plumber. A second one of a
peculiarly horrible nature is well authenti-
ticated. A Mrs Hatfield, Kentucky wo-
man, living % miles from St. Joseph, was
one day, about the goth, visited by party
of these Georgians, Is in number, who pre-
tended that they wanted to buy melons.
She offered to sell them what they wanted
and they went into the field and pulled as
many as they pleased When she request
ed her pay, they settled the billby striking
her across the face with whip, throwing
her down and choking her until her tongue
was forced out of her mouth; this they seiz-
ed, tied string around it, and by the string
led her a short distance from the house and
repeatedly violated her person! 1 heard
from her at St. Joseph, whithershe had been
taken. She was suffering horribly from the
effect of her injuries, and was unable, her
tongue being so badly swollen, to take
nourishment except as it was given through
tube. This is the work of the "law and
order" chivalry. This is the second case of
the kind that has recently happened.
Yours respectfully, VIM. THOMAS.