The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-12-23
CoRRESPONDENcE.


tality OF the TOwn-Its Growth and
Prospects.
LAWRENCE, Kansas, Dec. l6, 1867.
Probably no other town in the United States
had had so eventful q history as this renowned
city OF Lawrence. 1t was its fortune to be set
tled during those momentous times when
the great forces of freedom and slavery were IN
actual warfare and when the "irrepressiole
conflict" had begun to leave the fields OF peace
fnl discussion for the arena OF physical contest.
I,awrenee was the fruit of the nations sudden
reooil from the atroclous repeal of the Missouri
Compromise restriction upon the extension of
slavery To cloak the real objects of that repeal,
the Kansas. Nebraska bill professed to leavet the
question of slavery in Kansas to be settled by
the freely. expressed voice of Its early inhabI-
tants. Freedom accepted the challenge thus
ostenslbly rendered it by slavery, and imme.
diately her forces took their peaceful line of
march for the new battle ground The first
company of Free. State settlers arrived in Kansas
In the fall OF 1854. Trusty agents had
already selected Lawrence as the site for
q town. more beautiful location could
hardly have been chosen 1t is situated
upon the south bank OF the Kansas river
upon an elevated, gently rolling "second bot
fom," some forty feet above the level of the
stream, sheltered by crowning bluffs half
mile distant on the west, and with ample
room for the building Of great city without
expensive excavations or grading. A town was
Immediately laid out, and the settlers took
"claims" (the technical name for Government
lands settled upon but not yet brought into
markeD in eligible locations surrounding it.
These Massachusetts men, in imitation of their
Puritan ancestors, brought the church and the
school with them; and from that day to this;
Lawrence haslnever lacked for good churches
and excellent schools. Other settlers and
from different parts of the Union soon ar
rived and the new town Immediately became
Ihe headquarters OF the Free-State party in the
Territory. AS such it earned for Itself at once
the bitter and unrelenting hatred of the slave
power throughout the nation-a hatred which
was destined, at last to satlate itself with an
appalling vengeance. Here were the homes
Of Robinson, Lane, Conway, Dritzer, Allen,
Pomeroy, and other leaders of tAe
FreeState party. The conventions of the
party were generally held here and the
line Of its policy determined In the wholesale
armed invasion of Kansas by Missourlaus, to
nsurp control of her ballot-boxes and to fasten
npon her slave institutions, a large portion of
the force was detailed to march upon Lawrence,
and from thence to operate in surrounding
parts. Pro-slavery hostility to the town culmi-
mated in its first open assault in the summer
of 1866. when, under the lead of the notorious
David Atchison, then United States Senator
from Missouri an armed mob of rutfians acting
as United States Marshals posse, burned the
Free State Hotel and the dwelling house of
Governor Robinson, sacked the newspaper
offices, and committed other outrages. The
shock was only temporary. The hotel was re-
built the next season on an enlarged scale: the
newspapers were re established, with Increased
circulation at home and abroad; and the town
increased rapidly in business and in popu-
lation.
The Free-State struggle terminated finally in
the full triumph of the Free-State party by the
admission of Kansas a State into the Union,
under two Of her old leaders, Lane and Pome-
roy, as Senators, Conway as Represen tative,
while Robinson was in the Gubernatorial chair
at the State capital
At the breaking out of the war of ~
lion, the old pro.slavery feud betveor, FNeoel
"ud Missouri. which had partiaIlv -. hahsas
for a i,nnw years, awol5e to new A,fo numbered
name forth more herceI- :, and began TO
Lawrence had no j than ever Oelore'
fonT' onsand inbabitants with viii fl fine @ ohurcbes
and schools, three newspapers, large stores
doing a fine trade throughout the southern por-
tion OF the State, handsome residences, and
was altogether. one of the most fourishing
towns in the West. The war along the Missouri
border soon became exceedingly bitter, and
nnally degenerated, on the part of the Rebels,
into guerilla conflict of the most sanguinary
and outrageous character. Raids over the
border into Kansas for the destruction of the
smaller towns, and the robbery and frequent
murder of the people, were of almost constant
recurrence. Lawrence ought to have seen
the gathering storm and prepared for 1t;
Town was at least forty miles from the
M DuS IL IVA q, fatal insensibllity to danger
,,OssDssed her people. The goods in her stores
and the money in her safes inspired the cupi
dty of the Rebel guerillas, and the old lifelong
hostility to the town, as the historic and repre-
sentative city of Kansas, sought to wreak
itself in fire and blood. The blow fell on the
sd of August, 1853 At daylight of that morn
ing Quanu el, at the 800 bushwhackers, after
forced night march from the border, struck the
Iated town, and in three hours time reduced IL
70 ashes The citizens were taken completely
unawares The first intimation they had fthe
oresanca of the enemy was the crack of his
n,stoIs and the shrieks OF the unfortunate W
T,ros Who were being murdered in Co. :, Mood
VIZ noasses were unarmed %" ..onara,ion was
impossible; and instead, of a fight there was
soon nothing but ar unchecked and unresisted
massacre The history of the war furnishes no
parallel or approach to the horror of this occa'
zion, Husbands were murdered In the presence
of their wives and children. Four young mar
Ried men, among the leading citizens OF the
town. knew them all personally-one an
editor, one lawyer, one grocer, and one
. druggist-were taken from a single house
and shot down in the very presence
of their wives. Two of them wero killed In
stantly; one fingered in agony until the next
day, and the fourth, though shot twice, recov'