The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1883-11-14
JOHN BROWN,
The Eminent Murderer, Other
wise known as st. 0ssaWat-
tonne Brown,
Held Up to Public Gaze as q
3 Man Who Would Step from
the GallowS into Heaven.
Han. Jola H. croEisr. Il KaoIuns TribuHs.


IN penni6g the following article, Il il
rot our Intention or desire 10 stir up bad
blsod. but 20 Allay it by showing that aS
NJ has existed heretofore in one noted
case. IL has presented n very ugly and
disgusting appearance, and thus prevent
its reappearance hereafter.
Every nation has had It's saints or
holy persons TO worship. adore or adj
mire. The United States has had two
Of this kind. Saint Jonathan and Saint
Ossawattomie Brown. The first, Saint
Jonathan, was m Invisible and intangi-
he saint, an idea Of the mind. typical
and illustrative Of the people Of the
United States, As Jshn Bull is Of the
PEOPLE OF England. But Saint Ossawai-
tonic Brown was a saint composed Of
flesh. boueS and blood, and very coarse
iiesh, bones aad blood 81 that. He WAS
suffciently real and substantial in this
respect 10 have 9 rope put around his
neck and strAugled on a gallows in Eir-
ginia for committing murder and at
tempting to stir up an insurrection Of
the slaves i'm that State. Some OF our
readers will be surprised when we tell
them that this man who thus suffered
on the galloSs for murder and insurrec-
tion and had perpetFated similar crimes
previously, 20 which we will presently
call their more particular attention, a
little upwards Of 20 years ago was can
.nonized a saint by n considerable por-
tio1 Of the people Of this country. But
such WEs a most serious, aud we may be
pNrdOned for saying, disgraceful fact
After Brown had been condemned, a
distinguished citizen Of New England
said, "he could not have been tried by
his peers, for his peers did not exist,
thus elevatins him above all OF his fel-
low men. But others In their lauda-
tions Of this atrocious criminal went
much further than this. Theodore
Parker, a distinguished clergyman Of
Boston, said: Brown will die like 3
martyr, and also like a saint. And the
infinitely perfect God will take him
welcome home. The road 10 heaven Is
rs short from the gAllOws as from
throne; perhaps, also as easy" But hr.
Emerson, another distinguished citizen
Of Boston, b'asphemously spoke Of
Brown as "a saint whose msrtyrdom
will make the gAllOws glorious as the
cross" Thus placing John Brown on an
equality with our Savior. After some
supposed imaginary heroic acts Of John
Brown In Kansas, he was more fire.
quently called "OssAwattOmie" Brown,
than given his proper name Of John
For this reason being cannonized as q
saint, we have given him the name by
which he was best known, St. Ossawat-
tonne Brown.
All who are At all familiar with the
late struggle between the States will
recollect that constantly during the
whole contest the aid and inspiration of
ST. OssawAltOmie Brown was invoked
by the armies Of the North to lead them
10 victory. In their songs that were
considered very sacred his soul was rep
ressnttd d as marching on before them
and directing and governing their Rd-
vance against their enemies. The sa-
cred character Of this spirit Was of more
potency and influence apparently in in
spring the ardor and devotion Of their
armies than the military skill Of Sher-
man, Sheridan, or even Grant
4 a 4. H.,
may be said to have been strictly con-
lined TO New England, though it was
scAtteTingly acknowledged throughout
the North and less so throughout the
Northwest.
Having made these preliminary re-
marks, which some OF our readers may
consider as too many and others AS too
few, We are prepared to 90 directly to
the main subject Of our article: "The
murder Of the Doyle family by st. ossa-
wsttomie Brown," merely adding that
he is not the first saint that has COM
mitted murder, as st. George Of Eng
land did the like.
MURDER or THE DOYLE FAMILY.
We recollect of reading an account
OF the murder Of :be Doyle family
shortly after IL occurred. But our re-
collection OF the facts iof the case has
been refreshed through an article writ
ten by the Rev. David N. Utter, and
pablished in the November number of
the North American Rerier. The rever-
end gentleman Is certainly not preiu-
diced against Brown, for he entertained
the same sentiments with him on the
subject Of slavery aud even the manner
Of freeing the slaves. For speaking Of
Brown stealing slaves and running
them of 10 Canada from Missouri, he
says: 1T may have been justifsble to
steal slaves from their masters and free
them; such is tie writer's opinion, but
IN this sort Of work Brewn never acted
with sny discretion, not even with good
sense, II freeing the slaves had been his
chief objrct. But his real object was
10 provoke the South and 10 commit the
North 70 violence and bring on q war"
such is the testimony Of a dIsinterested
witness.
The family OF James II. Doyle lived
for long time in Knox county, Ten
nessee, south Of the river. The has
band and father, James p, was gener-
ally or always called Pleas Doyle. We
do not know when he removed TO Kan
sas, but suppose IL was after 1850. They
settled 90 a creek called Pottawat-
iomle. There was q great struggle
whether Kansas shoul6 be a slave or
\ free State. T.prevsnt bloodshed and
! civil var both parties agreed to with
hold their hands aud leave the result TO
be- detsr.niued through the balloi-box.