The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-12-16

In his trip East he did not realize the
amount Of money that be expected. The
money had been promised bona fde, but
owing to the tightness of the money market
they failed to comply with his demands.
The funds were necessary to the accomplish
ment of his plans. afterwards learned that
there was lack of confidence in the success
of his scheme. 1t was, therefore, necessary
that movement should be made in another
direction to demonstrate the practicability
of his plan. This he made about year
ago by his invasion of Missouri, and the
taking of about a dozen slaves, together
with horses, cattle, etc., into Kansas, in
defiance of the United States Marshal and
his posse. From Kansas he took them to
Canada, via Iowa City and Cleveland. At
the latter place be remained some days, and,
I think, disposed of his horses there. 1t
seems that the United States Marshal was
afraid to arrest him, and this was all that
was wanting to give confidence to the wa
vering in the practicability of his plan and
its ultimate success. He came to Harper's
Ferry about the last of June, though 1 did
not see him till late in July, or the early
part of August, when we met on Shenan-
doah street, Harpers Ferry, opposite Tear
ney's store. do not known who were his
aiders or abettors, but have heard him men
ton, in connection with it, the names of
Gerrit Smith, of New York, Howe, Of
Boston, and Sanborn and Thaddeus Hyatt,
of New York city. What connection, and
how far connected with his plan l do not
know, but know he wrote letter few
weeks previous to his attack to some gentle
men in Boston, which read, as near as can
recollect, as follows:
"DArE
GENTLEMEN: have got nearly all my ma
chimes on, and shall be ready to start them in a
few days, unless prevented by special Provi.
dence. Everything is working well. l shall
want 1.-THE funds you promised me in a few
days. Yours, truely,
In the mean time, the men who had en-
gagged to 60 with him, had most of them
arrived at Chambersburg, Penn, and been
sent to the place which he had rented in
Washington County, Nd, about five miles
from Harper's Ferry. The greater part of
the men kept out Of sight during the day,
for fear of attracting attention. The arms,
munitions, &C., were carted from Chambers
burg to his rendezvous. The spear heads
and guards came in strong boxes, and the
shafts passed for fork handles. They we're
put together by our own men, at the house
where most of them were found. Letters
of importance came to the Chambersburg
Post Office, and were sent by some of our
own party to head quarters. The letters
of minor Importance came to the Ferry to
J. Smith & Sons. All illusions to our
business were made in sucha blind way that
they would not have been understood by
any outside parties, even should they have
been miscarried. The attack was made
sooner than it was intended, owing to some
friends in Boston writing letter, finding
fault with the management of Capt. B., and
what to them seemed his unnecessary delay
and expense. do not know who those
persons were, or how far they were cogni-
zant of his (Capt. B.'s) plans. But l do
know that DR.. Howe gave Capt. Brown a
breech-loading carbine and a pair of muzz lie
loading pistols, all of Government manufac-
ture. They were left either at the house of
Capt. Brown, or at the school house, where
most of the arms were conveyed. At what
time and for what purpose they were given
to Capt. Brown 1 do not know. 1t was
supposed that Col. Hugh Forbes was dead.
was told by Captain Brown that when
on East he had been told by Thaddeus
Hyatt, of New York, that some of the ne
groes at that place had informed him (Hy-
att) that Forbes had "gone up"-a phrase
which Captain B. and the rest of our COM
pany understood to mean that he had been
killed. do not think that Forbes had any
cognizance of our plans from the time of
our leaving Pedee, year ago last April.
Previous to his quarrel with Capt. Brown,
we considered that he would hold place
next to Brown in command. l do not
know the present whereabouts of Luke F..
Parsons or Charles Moffett. The last 1
heard of Parsons was through Capt. Brown,
who informed me that Parsons had started
for Pixies Peak, and that he BROWN tho't
he would be pretty tolerably peaked before
he got there. A short time before the at
tack on Harper's Ferry, Captain Brown
requested me to find out in some way, with.
out creating suspicion, the number of male
slaves on or near the roads leading from the
Ferry, for distance of eight or ten miles,
and to make such memoranda that would
be unintelligible to others, but in such a
menner that could make it plain to him
and the rest of the company. He gave me
two dollars to pay my expenses with. l
took the road from Harper's Ferry to
Charlestown under the plea of gaining sta
tistics for work to be published by John
Henri, and to decide wager between him
and Mr.. Smith. did not 60 on any other
road. A few days after this Capt. Brown
sent his wagon over by his son Oliver and
jeremiah Anderson, to bring my wife and
myself to his house. They gave me note
from him which, as near as l can recollect,
read as follows:
"MR. CcoKE-Dear Sir: You will please
get everything ready to come with your wife
to my house this morning. My wagon will
wait for you. shall take your wife to Cham.
bersburg, and will start early tomorrow morn
ing. Be as expeditions as possible. Be very
careful not to say or do anything which will
awaken any suspicion.
"You can say your wife is going to make a
visit to some friends of hers in the country.
Be very careful that you do not let any of our
plans out. Yours, &C., J. SMITH"
My wife and myself accordingly left Har-
pers Ferry that night, accompanied by
Oliver Brown and Jeremiah Anderson, for
Cantain Rrovn's house, in WASHINGTON