Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1859-10-27
5tlisc,l!aaeuus.
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IEse hEarpeF'9 Ferry Tragedy

Ius iorg since maH, who proved to be
Captain joan Brown, of Osa;Ia.tomie, Kan
aas, arrived in Washington county, Mary
land, and renting farm there, near the
grand natural sceGe where the Potomac pass
eS the Blue Ridge, ostensihly settled down to
cultivate the earth. Nothing was thought Of
I:his, be- ause it has Of late years become very
common .ur northern farmers 20 cccupv and
till land in Virginia with view Of raising
, crops for the markets OF Ph.lad sphia, New
lo'k aud Boston subsequently there ar
rived man, notorious ~ cGnnectei with the
abduction Of saves throagh Ohio
Ere Yn VAS accom- panied b. his sons, and
there seems also TO nave gradually assembled
around him other white lner. either from
:. 'usns II Ohio At first these movements
attracted no attention. brt at length suspi-
ciun was aroused, and some one sent secret
warning to tie government at Washington
that trouble was brewing at llarpers Ferry
NJ attention Was paid to it. An agent Ct
iibe cohspiTatoTs APPEARS to have been in
Baltimore, and bought great quantities of
e n'sHon caps, and, perhaps, other militia
~ ammunition. Browns farm served as a
secure re-, devious, and there il would seem,
blacks and whites assembled cautiously and
planned this dreaGH,l thing, a servile inslr- /
rccton.
OF the motives " hich prompted this move
'nent we have some hint. Brown was tho
leader of the kansa, people at Osawattomie,
where his son was murdered by Missourians
an;i lis home destroyed. Those even:s found
linn y moderate man in his views. and LEFT
him. so far as "" can judge by his subsequent
acts, bold, violent, uuscr pGlous. reckless
and turbulent. Not content with the peace
which has been established in Kansas. he at
tempted desperate raid upon the Missouri
border, and ii IS wonderful that he escaped
death. Revengs upon the Southcrners seems
to have taken complete possession Of Brown.
As he could not free the slaves r Missouri.
which he tried, lie lit upon this last scheme
Of freeing the slaves in Maryland and Vir-
ginia.
SO far as VIC can maze il ont, the plan was
TO scze the town Of ilarper's Ferry and the .
ypvernm armory and arsenal, and hold !
them as fortifcation, to which the slaves /
from the neighboring country might come
and be organized for military operations $
/ c,e are always stored at lIarpers Ferry |
.bou: eis! ty thousand stand Of arE,s. and /
with these an abundance Of ammunition, Il 7
would b. easy TO arm al the slaves who {
mig risc. ,,
Every thin. must have hecn carefully ar /
''n9tF', for on Sunday night (l6th inst II
,and Of insurgents were collected together, t
nd btflre day break had moved SO silently
nd expeditiously that the whole town was 6
2 tl,eir p''ssesson and especially they had |
eizcd the government armory, arsenal and {
,av-ofice, in which it is state, there was
nrse sum Of money deposited. Upon rising !
rom sleep in the morning, the people Of a
larpcrs Ferry found themselves surrounded n
" an organized mob of whites and blacks. !
nd sentinels posted At all the leading points. !,
lfri ghted at tie unusual aspect of things, |
he inhabitants mostly fled, carrying alarm !
nd dismav all through the adioining !
ountry. Those who remained or resisted !
we're captured and imprisoned in the armory,
nong them beng several leading citizens of a
'ir.ina. a
To prevent the spread Of the news the in
urscns cut iown all the Geographic wires
he bridge over. the Potomac river was seiz- 7
d, armed men stationed at both ends, and c
II passage forbidden. Tie Baltimore and G
)hio Railroad passes the place, and to pre-
ent this being used to hiring hostile force :
gainst them, the insurgents stopped the run 4
ing Of the trains The news, however, was
lken to Baltimore by train which they al
,wed to go through in order to carry the Il
Tarnirg not to send any more cars
At first the intelligence of this outbreak !,
'as discredted but, as soon as il was ascer- i
aimed to he true, the Administration ut /
' ashington took prompt measures to send .
foops to suppress the disturbance. Three !.
ompanies Of Infantry we're sent from Fort .