Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-03-03
JOHN BROWN, JR.
HE STOUTLY DENIES THAT HE is
AN ANARCHIST.
Some of His Thrilling Experiences
With Border Ruffianism in the
Early Anti-Slavery Days.

WIN Border RufhantSm III the
Early Anti-Slavery Days.
EDS. RECORD UNION: As the story has
been circulated here that John Brown, son
of cold John Brown" the emancipation, is
an Anarchist, send you this article, pub
lished in Chicago paper-the Inter Ocean
which / hope can find place in your
| paper, or at least that portion of it deny
ing his sympathy with Anarchy. He will
doubtless visit his relatives in this city (of
whom ! am one), and | want him under
stood. Respectfully,
Mrs. C. NJ. HoPsoN.
Sacramento, February 30, 1888.
From the Chicago Inter-Oceanl
John Brown, Jr, the eldest son of John
| Brown, of Ossawatomie, whose soul has
marched on so grandly for nearly thirty
years, is in the city, on his way to Cali
| fornia. He is now &c years OF age and is
beginning to look very much as his father
did when he made his almost single
handed attack on the South and slavery.
Especially about the upper part OF the face
is the resemblance marked. The forehead
has the same shape as did the fathers, and
the hair bristles up indomtaby in the
fashion made familiar by all the pictures
of the elder Brown. The white beard and
mustache, Of a semi-miitary cut, make his
face noticeable one in any crowd, but it
is the personality of the man that is es-
pecially attractive. Gentle, kindly, cour-
teous, conscientious to fault, ne has the
same devotion to principle and to the
right as he sees it that led his father I'M
falteringly to Il shameful execution.
For over quarter of century Mr..
Brown has lived on Put-in-Bay Island,
near Sandusky, Ohio, where he has vine
yard. Several of his friends and relatives
have been persuading him to
MAKE A VISIT TO CALIFORNIA,
Where nearly all of his fathers people
live, but for time he could not see his
way clear to CO. As he explained it yes
terday: 81 didn't think | could afford to
make the trip, and l would sooner jump
into the lake than go in debt, and so
thought if | could do something to help
me out-work my passage as it were-I
would 60 So wrote lecture on sub
lect that has interested me for long time,
entitled, Intoxicating Liquors, Tobacco,
and Debt in Their Relation to Labor
hope to be able to deliver it in Chicago be-
fore ! leave, and to repeat it in several
places between here and California. |
thought | might be able to do a little good,
or at least not to do any harm"
To reporter of the Inter Ocean Mr..
Brown talked very interestingly of the
times in which his family played an i'm
portant part, and his more recent expert
enees. He is evidently man of wide and
careful reading, and his observations upon
men and affairs showed that he Is still a
student. He is somewhat annoyed to find
that false construction has been put upon
his almost accidental connection with the
executed Anarchists, and said, in that con-
nection; " 1t is true that | sent baskets of
fruit to those men, simply
OUT OF PITY FOR THEM
As condemned men who were about to die
for what they believed to be right, and
with no thought of approval of their prin-
ciples or actions. | am still almost igno-
rant of their views, and never knew any
one that held them. | sent them this fruit.
and soon after Lum sent me his paper and
wanted to put me on the free list, saving
that he was distant relative of Arthur
Tappan, the old Abolitionist. | wrote to
him, declining his offer, and you can see
from this letter, as | wrote it, whether any
expression of sympathy for the Anarch-
lists could be drawn from it, unless it was
garbled in the printing"
The original letter was as follows:
PUT-IN-BAY Ohio, December 9, 1857.
Dyer d. Lunl, Editor Atdrm-DEAR SIR: Sin
eerely do thank you for your favor of the 9th
nit, received on the 10Th. Also for copy of A.
1t is the first paper or document from those
termed Anarchists that have ever seen Per-
NIT me to decline your generous offer to place
my name on your free list. l want the paper to
live, and in token of the earnestness of nv de-
sire you viii please find inclosed Postoffice
money order for 81 % III payment of my sub
scription for year.
job said: The cause which / knew not
searched out" In doing that let me ask Does
the term anarchy, in accordance with its usual
and commonly understood meaning express
the real object and purpose OF those who are
called Anarchists? In other words, is the de-
struction OF law-of all conservative and re-
straining regulations-either prime object or
a means to the accomplishment of a chief pur-
pose? By law mean the rule, obligation, or
requirement of natural justice" Surely. the
Anarchist cannot mean this. If So l cannot
accomplishing? The cause which l knew not
| searched OUT Let us have Eight more
light" To this emf l shall carefully read
the reSlscitatcd paper of A. X. Parsons now
edited by yourself, Que of the descendants of
the noted aboltiopist, Arthur Tappan, with
whom | formerly had the honor of q personal
ACQUAINTANCE. Forty years ago an abolitionlst
was regarded by the majority of the people of
OF this country as an embodiment of real an
archy, q dlsturber OF public peace, a destroyer
of vested rights--rights guaranteed bv the Con
stitution of our common government To-day
Except among ''Bourbons') the name of the
noted abolitionist. Arthur Tappan, is cherished
and honored among intelligent and liberty
loving everywhere. Agitate and educate, but
cause of the oppressed laborer let us not stumble
over and put out the light we have. While we
realize the truth that the destruction of the
poor is their poverty" let us not forget what is
equally and sadly true, that the destruction of
the rich is their wealth.
Twenty eight years ago to-day my father was
judiciaily murdered at Charlestown, Va for his
devotion to the cause of pressed laborers of
African descent in America. Nov we perceive
that emancipation means more than simply
freedom OF the blacks from the bonds of chattel
slavery, May heaven grant to all the people of
our beloved country wisdom also to perceive
this and to govern themselves accordingly
JOHN BROWN, JR.
Referring to politics he said: AZ was
imprisoned in Kansas from May to Septem-
Der p, 1856, charged with treason, and by
the time got back to Ohio, of course. /
In 1857, however, cast my first Republi-
can vote, and l have voted that ticket at
every election since then. and hope, if I
am spared, to vote this fall for the nominee
of the Republican party for President. |
have done this in spite of the fact that |
might be called rank Prohibitionist, but
| think | can do more for temperance and
prohibition inside the Republican party
than out of it. When / commenced my
vineyard twenty years ago, it was with the
intention Of raising grapes for wine-mak-
ing, thinking it would be thoroughly
temperance measure But | soon became
disguised with that idea, and for years |
have not sold a grape to be made into
wine"
His eye kindled with some of the old
time fire as he told his experiences in the
early anti-slavery agitation. He said
As early as 1887 /, with all my brothers,
was associated with my father, in a fixed
determination to strike, at some time,
blow against slavery. Our purpose was to
do that which would arouse the spirit of
manhood in the slaves to resist, and it was
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