The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-01-02
The Abolition Assassin whose
Soul Goes Marching on!

The articles of the Rev. David y
Utter, (who vas ~ OF the Abohtionist
leaders in Bleeding Kansas" twenty
years ago. telling the real truth about
old John Brown. whose malicious fanat-
icism precipitated the civil war. have
attracted much attention : because
they reveal many facts of Browns
bloody career not generally known at
the South.
Capt. Jos. {. Ellington. OF Clayton,
who attended the last National Grand
Lodge, at Topeka. Kansas, tells us that
the Northern people are equally ignor-
ant in respect To the deta Is of Browns
capture, imprisonment. aud execution.
In the State Capitol at Topeka is a large
room, or museum. devoted TO relics OF
the old fanatic. comprising parts of his
clothing, specimens OF the pixies" he
made as weapons for the negroes. and
many of Browns letters. speeches. etc.
Several clerks are employed in showing
these relics to visitors. and presenting
each visitor a card containing a picture
of Brown. and on the Jack a sketch of
his life as follows =
John Brown was born in Torring-
ton. Conn. Mayo. 1900, and died at
Charlestown. Va. December ,. 1859.
He gave his life for the freedom of the
slave. He came to Kansas in the fall
Of 1856, and spent much OF his time
here for more than three years. hero
ically supporting the Free-State cause
aud betriendiug fugitive slaves from
Missouri. He was at Lawrence in the
Wakarusa war. December, 1873 at the
sacking Of Lawrence, May 81, 1856:
sanctioned the POttdudtomie tragedy.
Nay "a. 1856: at the battle Of Black
Jack. June >. 1856 at the battle OF Os-
awatomie, August 80. 1856 at tie de-
fence of Lawrence, September ii, 1856:
and escorted eleven fugitive slaves
through Kansas in December, lS5S-the
last time he was in Kansas.
The figure on the opposite side Of this
card is copied from a marble bust in the
possession of Mrs. Mary f. Stearns, of
Medford. Mass, executed by her order
by Bracket, at Charlestown, Va, while
Capt. Brown was there in prison after
his arrest at Harper's Ferry, October
Is, 1859. and while awaiting his eXecu-
tiOn.'
The battles referred to were gen.
orally massacres Of unarnicd citizens by
lawless mobs. Browns idea was to
murder Southern men until Southern
sentiment would become worked up in
to a feverish thirst for revenge. This
would bring War, and then the South
would be crushed by the superior wealth,
population. and advantages of Yankee
dom. How full of this scheme his
fanatical mind became. is illustrated by
the last letter he wrote,a day or two be.
fore he was hanged. The letter which
was Struggled out of prison by his law.
yer, is now preserved in a glass case al
Topeka, and reads as follows, the italics,
ETC., being his, %rerbatim) =
CHARLESTOWN. VA.
'2nd Dec. 1859.
l, John Brown. am now quite CERTAIN
that the crimes of this guilty land rii
never be purged acay, but with Blood,
| had, as l nor think rainly, fiattered
myself that without rery much bloodshed
it might be DONE
Capt. Ellington was accompanied tC
Topeka by a delegate from Virginia
named Baker who happened to be
Sheriff of the county in which Brown
vas Hanged. The Kansas people got
the idea that he was the sheriff of &c
years ago who hanged Brown, and there
was a troop Of callers, including the
Governor est. john and other State Of
ficers. to seek "reminiscences of theil
patron saint, SO to speak. Sheriff Ba-
ker found them singularly ignorant OF
the facts all of them insisting that
''Old Ossawotamie'' was denied lega.
counsel. and cruelty treated, and finally
hanged By a mob. Whereas. in truth,
he was defended by Northern lawyers.
and thanked his TAILOR at the scaffold fol
kindnesses, and was hanged amid a
small army of soldiers with Gov. Wise
himself to keep order.
From the Roctford, III J-ournalHcraId
In the November number of the
Ntrih Americdn RcCjelC, one Of the old
est magazines of this country, appears a
paper entitled John Brown OF Osawa-
tonne from the pen OF the Rev. ID. y.
Utter, Of the Church of the Messiah.
Chicago. The writer, with winged
words" gives the public a chapter Oh
the Loings of John Brown, in Kansas,
and shows that, instead of merlting fame
for his services there, e deserves [ erna,
infamy. He gives the details Of that
terrible midnight assassination, on the
Pottawatomie. in Kansas, on the night
Of May 1924, 1856, with much Of its
sickening details.
MIR. Utter is no doubt in possession of
all the facts, which were drawn out hy
the publication in The columns of the
Gazette in this city, in the autumn and
winter of lS76-S0. written by our towns
man, DIR. q. w. Brown, and which was
copied at length into two Kansas papers
and subsequently published in pamphlet
form, entitled "Reminiscences of Old
John DEMONSTRATING Incidents Of Bor
der Life in Kansas For twenty-four
years the facts 10 regard to those terrible
murders were suppressed, as far as the
Republican newspapers of the country
were capable of suppressing them. The
articles, which required nearly six months
for their publication, excited the people
OF Kansas to an extent never dreamed of
before. The admirers of John Brown
were determined still farther to suppress
the truth, while the friends of impartial
history were determined the bottom fact,
should be reached The ''clincler"
came when James Townsley, E-q.. who
accompanied the assassiDs on that mid