The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-01-17

1.-THE aBorder Rufian" forces 81
) lTerelS wounded, and surrendered
81 The prisoners were brought I
lawrence. 1t vas said that a fe
spW known as "Pennslytuek" seize
Q csfpetsack containing SIS, 600 i
gold belonging to the Souther
ii fund for making Kansas slav
J, state, and fed with the money
j, At any rate, "Pennslytuck" wa
never in the free State ranks agai
and never heard afterwards il
Kansas. During the summer an,
tail Of 1856, G. W. Smith, Chas
Robinson, G. W. Deitzler, Gain
| yenkias, g. W. Brown and II. II
/ Williams, were captured and held
IN Lecompton as prisoners OF
charge of treason. They wer,
guarded by United States troops
In September, Gen. Lane marched
| an army Of several hundred mel
to attack Lecompton. The Pro
slavery men were entrenched prin
| cipaHy in the foundation of tn,
| State House, which still stands as
. monument of the Pro-slavery
folly A the Free State forces
4 we're advancing, and when Capt
i Bicker9cu was Just ready to pour
shot from the old "Sacramento'
into the Notifications, the United
States troops arrived and inter
fered; otherwise the whole Pro
fslRvefy party would have been
captured and driven out. Shortly
aEtek The battle OF Hickory Point
occurred, where two Pro slavery
men we're killed and one or two
flee State men wounded. That
night the United States troops
captured one hundred and one of
the free State men while lying in
camp, and. took them to Lecomp
ton, where they were indicted for
murder. They were kept in prison
and guarded several months. The
same winter q meeting of free State
men, largely from Lawrence, was
held in Lecompton to endorse the
independent action of Gov. Geary.
The Pro-slavery leaders undertake
ing to interfere to break it up.
VIM. Sherrod, 8 Pro slavery man,
was shot dead by j. Jones, Gov.
Geary's Private Secretary, and the
free State men came off victorious.
The same winter Col. Eldridge
took q body Of free State boys to
Lecompton and captured q large
lot of guns previously taken by
the border ruf1ians." All this
time the Pro-slavery officers held
the hundred prisoners, and were
constantly in terror Of their lives,
the prisoners really being the most
Independent and fearless men in
Lecompton. At one time Gov.
Geary was actually compelled to
arm the prisoners for his own pro-
lection against threatened ont
RACES. They were pardoned and
discharged.
The Lecompton Constitution
was framed ut Lecompton in the
fall of 1857, and the Democratic
Pro slavery Convention to nomi-
nate officers under it was held
there.
From 1856 till the winter of
1878, the Legislature sat at Le-
compton, and the Territorial off,
GERS were always there. When the
free State men elected the Legisla-
ture for the first time in 1857, An
extra session was called at Lecomp-
ton in December, to take action for
submitting tho Lecompton Consti
tuition to a vote OF. the people. 1t
was called by Secretary and eX-
omcio Governor Stanton, on q
pledge Of the Free State members
that no other business should be
transacted, and hence they took
no measures to remove from Lee
compton at that session; but at
the succeeding session held in
January, 1858, joint resolution
was passed over the veto of the
Gov rLor, to the effect that, for
want of sufficient hotel accommo
dstiops at Lecompton, tue Legis-
lature would remove to Lawrence,
and all succeeding Territorial Leg
islatures passed similar resolu-
tion,. and removed to this city.
until the territorial government
ended by the admission OF Kansas
as a Free State in 1861.
The greatest event in the history
of Lie compton township was the
holding of the Free State Conven.
ton at Big Springs, On the 9Th of
September. 1855. 1t was the open
ing public movement of the con
centrated forces of the Free State
men of Kansas. It initiated the
combined resistance of all men
who opposed slavery and believed
in the right of the people of the
Territory to govern themselves.
| Other Conventions had been held,
but they were regarded as too
much yankee" or too much CAB
olItion," because they were held at
Lawrence, and generally controlled
by men from New England. Big
Springs neighborhood had been
settled by Pennsylvanians, many
of them liberal Democrats, who,
while they wanted no slavery, did
not fully coincide with the more
ultra opponentsof that institution.
Among this class was prominently
the late Col. VIM. Y. Roberts, as
pure patriot as ever drew sword
in defence of his country. The
holding of this Convention ut Big
Springs was q concession to that
element, and was a mastery stroke
of policy. Considering our sparse
population, it was an immense
gathering. It took in all classes
of men who believed in the right
Of the people to govern themselves
Several prominent, able Southern
born and educated men fell in with
it. Col. ROBBERS made his first
speech there, cooperating earnest
~ with Gen. Lane, Schuyler, Rob
inson and others of our leaders
An assault upon this assembly haC
been threatened, and there was no
an unarmed man in that vast as
sembly. 1t was there that Gov
Reader made his STEADY arm anC
sure eye" speech, in which he in
dictated that force must meet force
Here it was that the famori
"bloody issue" resolution, which
$50 incensed the South, and wa
universally criticised, was passed
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