Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1859-01-13
THRILLING SeENEIN=BoKDER
WARFARE.
Attack ON Fort Scott by Mont.
Somery and his Men.

soHlery and his Men. /!
TIE following letter from d cores
pondent q the st. louis Republican,
with al due allowance for is partisan.
eoloring, isintensely interesting
FORT SCOTT, K. T. Dec. II, SO. {
Southern Kansas is again in a con-
dition bordering upon civil war. Cap
tain Montgomery, the "FrcesState
bandit chief, is under arms in the conn
ties of Bourbon and Linn, assisted by
Captain John Brown, of Ossawattomie
memory and other leaders.
Yesterday morning, as daylight was
about dawning, these leaders, with their
companies, numbering from seventy to
one hundred men, entered the town Of
Fort Scott for the purpose of rescufno
Chen Rice one of their number. from
the custody of the Sheriff. That officer
at the time was sleeping on his "claim,,''
more than a mile out of town, and did
not hear The alarm till It was too late.
Our townsmen we're auasleop 10 their
seperate houses. Before the Inmates Of
the Stree State Hotel in which the
prisoner was Kept, knew what was going
on, these guerrillas had possession of
the building, and weie striking off the
chains Of the prisoner who was heldnn-
der Indictment for murder and assault
with intent to Kill. Captain Montgom-
cry had a fire, already kindled outside,
with which to fire the building in case
any one should shoot. Our town is SO
compaotly bull, that one FIRE must ne
cessarily destroy at least 500, 600 worth
ofproperty. Deputy Marshal Campbell,
who kept the house, held one of the
rooms against them, assisted by some
friends. they tried to get hold of him
to hang or shoot him. They snapped a
Shapes rife at Mr.. damon, the jailor
of. kiec. Having rescued Rice they
went to pillaging the rooms. They
stole shirts, coats, boots, gloves. and
whatever it was profitable to take. They
got, a Shapes rife from Mr.. Gailaher,
our Postmaster, worth $50, though it
was not in his possession at the time of
their taking it. They took guns and
pistols wherever they could find them.
They were SO doub1y armed with re-
v~olvers and Shapes rifles, that the few
who had guns saw no chance to resist
them.
While this was going on inside, Cap.
tain Montgomery remained on the pub
lie square with at least half of his men.
He took the precaution t station guards
a. every house, to sbooto or capture who
ever might, preset themselves.
Later in the engagement, the house
and store of DIR. Blake Little became
the scene of mo st Intense interest. If
the excitemeit was intense outside, it
was thrilling to the inmates. There
were in the house the cold Doctor, - his
son, John Fl. Little, who was recently
our Deputy Marshal, his friend, George
A. Crawford, the President Of the Town
Company, and the black girl aud little
black boy. Mr.. c.. informs me that
they were aroused from sleep by the lit
: tie boy announcing that the town was
the hotel, As soon as they could dress
and seize.their guns, John Little rush
ed to the door to see whether theSSher-
ifs posse were rallying, and to view
the position of M~ontgomery's men,
The guard advancing on him, he told
him to stand back. The request not be-
ing obeyed, they both fred so simulta-
neously that Mr.. G.. did not ascertain
that the guard had fred until after all
was over, and he o und the ball had
lodged Just above Mr.. Little's head.
Mr.. l.. then closed the door, remark
ing that he had shot one of them. The
early hour of the morning precluded
the probability of any firing by the cit
liens as a posse, the inmates could only
act on the defensive until they should
hear that the action had become gen
eral. On he one side Of them were
windows looking out upon the pointed
rifles, from one of which came a ball
through the window a-stove-pipe and a
partition wall. They could hear.steps
about the doors, and ~momentarily ex-t
pected the first firing to be followed
up by IN onslaught upon the. house.
Soon John Little disappeared into the
store room in order TO get a view of
the hotel and the mob. He mounted a
d%ry-goods box, and was rubbing the
dust off the. window above the door,
when a ball penetrated his forehead
and felled him to the floor.
Covered with blood and gasping in
death, he lay there for two long hours
before our townsmen could know of his
condition. In almost breathless sus-
pense, and in this house eff death, DR..
Little and Mr.. Crawford awaited the
inc itab /: doom. There was not the
remntest chance to call in friendly SYM
pathy for the dying, nor even to an
nounce the condition of their comrade.
No prospect of any firing on the part of
our citizens, no knowledge of the rea-
son of it, no chance for anything but
the fate that poor John-had met ike a
man. There was some hope of selling
life to ter-advantage- and that was al.
They heard the cry to fire the building,
in which were several kegs of powder.
They saw them plant the cannon against
the house, andthe riaemen-range round
the doors and windows. They heard
the order to make ready.
AT that thrilling moment MIR. C. ad-
vanccd to an upstairs window, and
raised his hand to lift it, thinking it
might appease the crowd OF rally friends
to tell him Little had been shot. Butt
a dozen rifles stared them in the face,
and he saw no Chance but to- take fate