Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-03-20
NUMBER 3S

everglades. The least he expected the gov
ernRent to send against him was an army
OF twenty thousand; and his plans were $,
laid that they could never capture over enc
hundred Of his men at time, and of these
all but two or three should be fugitive
slaves: The risings were planned to TAX,
place in dozen different directions in a
night, the companies to be kept sepnrate
The slaves were not to be taken to the North
but drilled and taught to conquer ,lirir
homes in the South. They were to be- ofi-
cered by men who had proved worthy. and
who were to restrain them from acts of vi.,-
lence. The shareholders were to be tak..,
prisoners where they stood in the way. and
injured personally only if they resisted Ii
was John Browns desire To show the slave
holders from the first the humanity of his
intentions. that caused him 70 delay hi-
his escape from the engine-hOIse at
iiarper's Ferry until it was too late. Hun
dreds oimen were sworn to be there and, il
he could have waited until the time IN the
spring agreed upon for the attack it would
probably have been successful. The courage
and fortitude of the wonderful o.d man have
been allowed even hy his enemies 1t WAS hard
Tor eNlrginians. as it would have been hard
Tor most men, to whom every black man
counted thousand dollars, 10 recognize the
right of revolution in four millions at human
beings; but they did acknowledge that John
Brown was all through the stuff Of which
his answers were made when Gov. Wiss
and Senator Mason questioned him, wound
ed and bleeding upon the engine house
floor; and that was Just the sort of insan
lty, 1t seems to me. that heroes and re-
formers have been made of. ever since the
world began. He had waited twenty Year,.
be was too old to wait twenty years longer.
The blow, he thought, must be struck then
or never. To him and his men Lille wa
nothing in comparison with what had been
80 long the absorbing object of it. Eyea A.
1t was, il he had cared less for the feelings
OF the wives and children Of his prisoners
and had gone u the uionntan> when hc
could have gOne,-aEd he accused himself
OF the mistake, without InpiicatIns Lis
friends at the North the war would cer-
tain!y have lasted longer, and would not
have closed - GissiSrrpusiy. This last ..itc-
ment could have, | believe. no better con-
iirmation than is in the fact Uf the rt mark |
able escape of Owen Brown and his little |
band, with thousands of dollars upon their |
heads, and hundreds Of thousands of people |
eager to catch them.
In his fathers viii and published let |
tiers, Owen Brown is spoken of as 4 Grip /
pie lie injured his right arm in throwing /
stone wien a boy. and las since had unl, /
the partial Use of it. He l. bachelor. aus. |
II was in his one-rOomed Siiauty. a ,iItis |
way from his brothers iarm-huu,t. that |
| wrote down, from his own hp-. tue h..- |
lowing account Of biz escape from ilar- /
per's Ferry. Upon tie wall Just above /
my head hung an Overcrat once worn 1
By hls father and on 4 bench beneath |
the window at my side lay the gun used, /
believe, by the old warrior at the fight oi |
O-sawattomic. The place. indeed, w'r- fall |
of mementos Most Of the hpnely furniture |
was, think, heroic IL u, WY. like the |
whole family. None of Us -Iii Owen |
Brown. with his usual dr,ihrrai iiau. struk- |
ing his full beard and lookin. 1T biz atirr'- !
gun, when | interrupted hi~ narrative t. /
ask If he were not afraid on r certain perl
lous occasion. none oi Us cye- made rlurh |
prctension u being scared
lie had not tod the story heluTc he as-
sured Me, IN twelve YeaT-. The honesty !
and modesty are - ingraiucd in the nan
that any one, | imagine. who had listened |
to him. would have been wil.ir- t. swear /
that owen Brown Wa telling what he be- |
lieyed 70 ho the truth " here he did not
know Of his own personal know ledge, and |
even when 4 statement hal the authority of /
Trustworthy record. he wnuld invariably /
say Il have heard; do not know. |
have heard Names o! men and places he 4
had strangely forgotten in th,,. hungry /
wanderings in the mountains. lie and hi~
little company had even lost their rcck IN
ing Of the days Of the week sat 81 strong /
Is the woot>man III him, ;ha' he gave me
not only the direction and probable extent |
of every mountain and valley he passed. /
night or day, but the nature and quality of |
the timber almost everywhere in hls way. 1
found him entirely free from malice. even /
against the bit:ere,t of hi~ old esemie~ He /
passed over the most dangerous and dr.- !
matte parts OF hi- story without toe least /
emphasis, giving them jo ne often ~ the /
way o; parentheSis. In hi 1-lIbcratiOa and /
tones and look there were qualities that
eyapOrate entirely. of course. from the writ !
ten narrative. The only substitute can
think of for the reader l.. that he shall bear
constantly in mind what kind Of men uli (
John Brown told the Massachusetts Lc-i~-
lature he wanted with him Men who
feared God too much u fear anything
human And Ogen Brown vaSonc ol them.
Ralph Heeler IN Hcrci Atlantic