Wichita eagle., 1888-09-02
Quantrill's band recently

to f5a ae aia;1e,. we'll well ~sSazW&W
30 m e. however, crx r.ov.s rr,xc
continued career zen 1-ho'iA' /" iN"'
OF murder and robbery after the war closed
ano met either violent death or landed in
one or another of various state prisons.
The respectable survivors of tho band are
! unanimous On one point-they were neither
robbers nor murierers in the beginning. not
indeed, till Gen. Halleck issued from Wash
inSton an order proclaiming Quantrill and
his men outlaws in March, 1862. They raise
4 their hands toward heaven and swear by all
4 that Is sacred that this is true.
i After Halleclk's proclamation Quantrill OBJ
! tanned copy of it and read it to his men.
i Now. boys You hear" he said. ''Those of
/ you who wish can quit and go home. Those
/ who stay viii know what to expect"
Some of tae band did thereupon leave, it is
! said Quantriu further took a copy of the
. proclamation and wrote upon it these words:
/ For evel.y man of mine you kill will kill
ten OF yours" Then he sent the paper to
Oen Thomas Ewing. commander of the mill
tary district of Kansas.
From that time it was a war of externina-
tion- Quantrill however, did occasionally
spP.le a life, and sometimes restored prop
erfy when women begged for it. Thourh
Tot especially chivalrous, he did not harm
women. Indeed, he was far more mercifui
I than many of the fierce borderers that
/ gathered around him, and this was sometimes
/ the cause of quarrels.
Gen Ewing was i'll provided with troops
to meet the roaming guerrilla companies He
did the best he could, scattering SQUADS of
soldiers among localities where thew could
. keep watch. Especially they were ordered
! to have an eye on Quantrill'S band De-
tachments were stationed along the Missouri
border, between that and Kansas for over
fifty miles south of Kansas City
The provost marshal of Kansas CITY. No.
was at that time modest military man. by
name Preston B. Plumb, by title major. He
Is now the distinguished United States sena-
tor from Kansas.
The kaw river empties into the Missouri
from the west, just at Kansas City. Fifty
miles west of Kansas City, on the south side
of the kaw, is the town of Lawrence. II
now contains about 10, 600 inhabitants Then
there were only a few people in the town.
The able bodied men were nearly all away
in the Union army.
On the night Of Aug. 20, 1868, Maj Plumb
came in late to his headquarters Gen.
Ewing was at Leavenworth, TWENTY-FIVE
miles north of Kansas City Mai. Plumb
was very weary. He was also ill. He re-
tired at once. 1t was IL o'clock. In a sec
ond story room OF the headquarters single
light yet burned 1t shone through win
dow facing the street. An attendant of the
office sat by the light, reading newspaper.
Suddenly there was CHATTER of horses
hoofs up the street They paused under the
window where the solitary light burned. A
voice below shouted family:
''Rallool Is this the provost marshal's
office" said the voice
ut is. What's wanted9r
Il am the bearer of dispatches from Cant
Pike. He sent me to say that Quantriu
crossed into Kansas with 300 men this even
ing at 6 o'clock. forty miles below;here, and
they We're heading northwest. 1t was a
verbal message
Then the solitary horseman went away
again. de had ridden sixty miles since 9
O'Clock.
The fI1ghtful import Of this information
dawned on the newspaper reader TO the full.
QCIantrill in Kansas with 301nen and riding
northwest. 1t meant massacre, fire and
plumber to some defenSeleSs town
In five minutes lights were flashing to and
fro in all the windows of the provost mar
sbal's office. Soldiers were arrning and Mai.
Plumb, Ill and exhausted as3he was, was uD
and preparing to lead them. Horses were
saddled swiftly in the darkness
Between II and l O'Clock Mai Plumb and
fifty mounted men were riding out into the
they knew not just where. Fifty
soldiers were all there were! sat headquarters
at that time. He gathered up other soldiers
Oh the way, at Westport Gen Ewing saws
he had as many as 500 rnentwhen be was a.
length fairly on the wav.
They rode all night as fast as their horses /
could carry them. Twenty-Five miles from !
Kansas City they had word that Quantriu 1
nad passed through Gardner at midnight and 4
vas riding toward Lawrence. They then !
had their bearings. lawrence was the I
doomed town. They spurred on fast and |
hard
In the morning, soon affer daylight, thew 1
eached Lawrence, 4 mass OF smoking ruins.
2uantIill had done his work already. He !
had done it SO thsroughiy'that only one or two
houses escaped. Quantrili himself spared one
louse, Stones hotel Itsis still to BE seen in
he rebuilt city. Its proprietor had donS
Quantrill some favor in former times. and
lis house was saved from the universal ruin
guantrlll put into this buildinglsotne twenty
persons and saved their lives
One hundred aud forty people had been J
nassacred in cold blood, and twenty four
,thers wounded Women and little children
lad been spared A hundred and eighty
i've houses had been burned, and thesraiders
arried of all theplunder they could load
.pon their horses and thensesves-money
md other valuables In front OF one house
he mistress came out and stood before tho
,uerrilias She was%a plucky, determined
Woman She begged with eli the eloqueace
he was master OF that her house De spared.
/ vas in vain The rouga raiders babe her
% out Of the way, for her house would be IN
lanes In I've NH us3s.