Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1886-12-11
OLD JOHN BROWN.


. As Described ia tGaLh's'' Novel Kate oi
Catoctin."
The perfect daylight revealed HIM nov
tired after the nights ezertions, wiry,
with one eye preOccupied and the other
ike g fsherbird's, the nose vulturous
and the mouth as hard as intense opinion
atedness and severe reflection could make
It in man.
He had his arms beneath his old coat
tails and his cap concealed there, and
his unksmPt hair famed up ike bea-
con In ashes and the fleece Of erav and
white beard made a blossom ike a snow
ball to his breast bone. Without an or
nBment but the dress sword hilt of
king-no seals, no watch, watchguard.
not even a pistol uOW-JoIn Brown
seemed terrible by his simplicity and
/ Indifference. Unconstrained, natural vet
wild; not entirely sane in the expression
Of his eyes; deliberate put unfseling.
ready to become domestic or dreadful
like a house cat to take a fit, he measur-
ed them all as If he was ransoming
sheep.
All felt that he could toss them back
like lambs to their pens If they sought
to Rssail or eVads him. His whole dress
a slOp-shOp might have rejected; but the
stringy frame within it, and lean bushy
head, at once PR5Ciarchal and animal, |
gave him a sense of some CalVinistic /
VOLTA savage qualified by theology =
X It might have been possible to |
treat John Browns raid as without full /
moral accountability, and thus to lave /
remanded it, by the contempt of justice, 4
to the silence OF a luuatic asylum; but /
the politician at the head of Virginia be- l
came the instrument to connect the little 1
affair with the mightiest revolution of /
the age.
Governor Wise summoned the mill /
bary of Virginia to arms upon the belief
Of prstense that Brown was only a pOr-
ton Of a general insurrectiOn and inVa-
sion, and the little court house place OF
Charleston became for five months gar
usoned spot during the trials and execu-
ten Of Brown and his survivors, while |
the example Of Virginia led to the arm
ing OF every slave state, and thence pro
ceeded the fermentation of the scheme of /
a separated republic TO assure the safety
Of slavery.
Short has been his shrift-tried IL
seven days, sentenced in six days more,
executed in another mOnth-nOt seven
WG5545 Ia dA4f DLG III LL11l E4AL49 L4B
ed life with the accuracy and completed
ness Of a comet predicted and fulfilled.
His fOolisbness ended at his taking, and
his greatness began In his failure. The
letters he answered, the speeches he
made In court, his consistency and sim
plicity, had a moral influence feebly pre-
figured by the reckless Samson pulling
the heather temple down. OF Samson
had remained only strength; of Brown,
not strength, only testimony. The
AbOhtiOnist that unseen terr0r-had at
last been captured and displayed in the
slave states, and probably the only per
feet specimen. Nearly every one Of the /
same genus who had been priVY TO his
plans retrested from the responsibility
and left him on the enemy's side, dead
ly hostage, subtle as wisdom itself.
It was a privilege to see him die, be
yOnd the death Of any man yet known in
America who had chosen the galloWs for
his death bed. Some who had looked
into his genealogy thought they saw in
his face and works signs OF all races that
were united in him. English, Puritan,
Holland, Dutchman, Welsh-the stocks
of Hampden, De Ruyter, and Jefferson.
He climbed the scaffOld first, shook
of his hat, thanked all for favors, and
over his kindly smile the death cap was
drawn.
81 can't see, gentlemen. You must
lead me-" the muffied voice peitioned to
to be led to the death trap.
He did not desire publicly to speak,
though it had been forbidden. The only
he suffered was the delay Of
the militia, who are made to march,
countermarch, face onward and inward,
and repel an invisible attack. There
was one side Of the hollow square left
open, where the sun was shining over
head.
81 am ready any time" was eztorted
from the lips at last; 'dO not keep me
waitingP'
The scaffold trap then opened beneath
his feet, like the wicked of heaven on gold
en- hinges turning, all the vast erratic In
the old mans life Strengthened on the
silver cord that let him down into the
bosom Of the valley.
In after years the armies there faced
every way to repeI insidiOus liberty seek
ing to come in, but was let down from