Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1881-02-25
KANSAS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Extracts From Col. S. S. Prouty's Ad-
dress.


Topeka Capital. Jan. 20.
The first annual address was deliver
ed before the State Historical Sc
ciety in representative hall last night
Ivy Col 5. 5. Prouty, in presence of
large and appreciative audience. Th
speakers appearance was greeted wit
most hearty applause. He read tn
address from printed slips at the clerk
table. 1t was like all his productions
carefully prepared, interesting and i'll
structive, replete with PHILOSOPHERS
deductions, and ornate with beautiful
expressions of sentiment. With his
toric correctness of statement, wer
blended variations of heroic deeds o
the pioneers, and pathetic references t
the men of the quill whose faithful
breasts, listening ears" and ready pen
were instruments which sent driftin;
waves over the sea of public opinion
! His references to the closing scenes o
John Browns life, reused burst o
applause in which the entire audienc
joined. One extract will convey to th
reader q faint impression of the veil
in which "the good old man" and hi
patient courage were presented
"In 1855 there appeared in Lawrence
an old man who attracted unusual at
tention by his long white hair, flowing
beard, and general patriarchial aspect
! He was an abolitioniSt of the eXtrem,
school, and believed that the constitu
ton of the United States was a cove
nant between heaven and hell. Fo
the owners of the human flesh anC
| blood he had no respect, but believed
it was right to purloin and liberate tina
species of property. He Opined tina
slavery could never be abolished in thi
Union except through blood, the shed
ding of which he impatiently waited
The pro-slavery man he regarded rs al
Oppressor, and in his hostility to tyI
amy and tyrants, and the enSlavers o
men, he was unrelenting and uncom
promising He would have been
good Roundhead in the Cromwelllal
times and a rebel in the days of '1t
! Whenever there was an opportunity fo
this strange old man to strike a blON
for the freedom of Kansas he availe
himself of it with avidity His fol
lowers were select and few. The wis
and the prudent eschewed him and III
was excluded from the councils of tn
elect. His blows in behalf of the fre
state cause was sanguinary, but the
were telling and effectual. He forSOo
business, family, comforts and pleasure
of home and devoted his life wholly t
the cause of the oppressed.
Twenty-one years ago the soul of thi
old man passed to the spirit worlC
To-day among the oppressed of all pee
pies, among those who are strugglin
against tyranny and contending for tn
equal rights of men, among the wist
the learned, the philanthropic and tn
admirers of heroism, the memory of OIL
John Brown is most reverently cher
ished. Some will consider us Sacrileg
ious this effort to institute an analog
between the matyrdoms at Calvary an
Harper's Ferry. Jesus Christ died o
the cross for the salvation of all maI
kind. John Brown died on the scat
fold for the freedom of all mankind.
Among the early free state men tn
speaker mentioned Charles Robinson
James III. Lane, :. \. Wood, job
Richie and Samuel c. Pomeroy. Prom
inence in the address was given
newspaper men, one of whom Wa
thus mentioned.
Richard Realf came to Kansas frol
England in 1856. He was "A protege {
Lady Byron, and had been classical
educated. The struggles in Kans;
attracted him hither. His distil
guished patroDess had already coniribu