Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-01-16

the whole institution of slavery, and the
only way to abolish slavery was to destroy
the whole institution was his idea. He
was an insurrectionist out and out He
believed that the slaves could emancipate
themselves with the assistance of the
North, and his plan was simply to furnish
the organization necessary to accomplish
this end.
" He did not believe in bloodshed under
any circumstances when it could be
avoided. If one man was making way to
liberty and dozen other men were trying
to oppose him, he considered the one mans
liberty worth more than a dozen lives that
opposed him, and in such case, if abso-
lutely necessary, the taking of their lives
would be justifable.
browns instruction to his men was
always, Take no life or shed the blood of
any man unless absolutely necessary
WELL vERsED IN WARFARE.
" He was well versed in warfare, both
modern and ancient. | recollect his tell
ing me off trip he took to Europe to study
their different modes of warfare. In his
plans for the raid in Virginia he intended
to follow the Circassian mode of warefare,
as practiced by them in their wars with
the Russians. He was supplied with COM
plete maps of all the country in the yicin-
ity of Harper's Ferry, and with a mere
handful of men posted in some of the natu-
raj mountain fortresses known only to him
self and men, he could defy all the men
that could be brought against him, and by
making sudden dashes when least expected,
capture slave owners and iberate slaves.
The slaves thus liberated would Join his
forces and the masters would be held until
they could be exchanged for the liberty of
other slaves.
1.-The plan was a good one, and might
perhaps have succeeded had it been car
ried out as arranged. Browns great mis-
take was stopping at the arsenal. The
original intention had been simply to cap
ture the arsenal, and with the arms thus
secured retreat at once to the mountains,
but the arrangements got confused in some
way and before they could be Strengthened
again it was too late; they were caught
like rats In trap and all retreat cut off.
1t was fatal mistake, and | never could
understand what Brown could have been
thinking of, for he was generally very
shrewd man, and always seemed to look
carefully into everything and figure ahead
for results.
THE ONTARIO FIRE.
As an illustration of this habit, | will
relate little incident that occurred dur
ing his stay in Chatham. A store near the
hotel at which he was stopping was robbed
and keg of gunpowder was blown up by
the thieves to hide their tracks. The
building was set on fire by the explosion
and considerable excitement ensued.
Shortly after the fire started / met Brown
and he said to me:
90 Bell, this fire will be attributed to
some of my men, and they may charge us
with it, because We are strangers here and
our business is unknown. They will search
our rooms and baggage after the fire, and |
am afraid they might cause US trouble if
they found and examined my papers,
g agreed with him, and asked him what
was best to be done. He said:
"'There are letters and papers here
would not have seen, and will turn them
all over to you until after the danger is
past
:" He did SO, and l found hiding place
for them. Not an hour afterward a crowd
of angry suspicious men filled their apart
ments and examined and searched every
thing thoroughly, but, of course found
nothing of consequence"
f" Do you know of any other organization
back of Brown, outside of the men he had
in Chatham at that time ?'
No, sir. There was none. John Brown
was the head and tail of the whole affair.
No one outside Of the organization in Chat
ham knew of his plans. / suppose he told
me as clearly as any living soul what his
plans were, for he used to talk with me
daily on the subject, which was, of course,
always uppermost in his thoughts, and we
held many arguments upon the feasibility
of his plans, for i confess l had not much
faith, and expected the affair would termi-
nate about as it did.
" / remember on one occasion. while we
were conversing on the subject, friend of
mine came in and | introduced him to
Brown. Brown continued his argument.
and my friend took exceptions to one of the
theories advanced by Brown, and said:
MIR. Brown, don't you think there are
exceptions to all rules p
Yes replied Brown, but l know of
one rule there is no exception to-
"'What is thatY
That nothing great or good can be &C
complished without trying
Brown was no novice in warfare. and
all his plans were a marvel of complete
ness. Everything was planned out ahead,
and you could not suggest an emergency
but what he had his plan prepared to meet
it. He was cool, calculating and brave.
Without a trace of humor in his compo-
sition. | never heard him say word to
cause laughter, and | never heard him
laugh. AS cold as piece of lead, never
excited or nervous, and never more than
ghost of smile was permitted to grace
his countenance. He was of what would
call the bilious, sanguine, nervous temper
ament; just enough of the nervous to
make him active and prevent laziness. His
deep-set, gray eyes had fashion of look
ing you through, and seemed to see their
way into your innermost thoughts"
WANT TO DIE AT HARPER's FERRY.
Mr.. Bell very emphatically denied the
story that Brown expected a rescue when
in prison at Charlestown. He said that
Brown fully expected and wanted to die
there. John Brown, Jr., now resident of
Put-in-Bay, o., when planning the rescue,
had frequently said that he had no inten-
ton of rescuing his father; that it was
his fathers wish to die there. Said Mr..
Bell:
II have heard Brown say at least hun
dred times, Il want to die at Harper's
Ferry, for my death there will do more for
my cause than anything l could ever do
if | live
Brown went there with the intention
of dying, and of making as big disturb
ance as possible in doing it, and he sue
ceeded"
The printed copies of the provisional
constitution found in Browns carpet-bag
were prepared by William Howard Day
(colored), who was then the editor of the
Alien american, published in Cleveland,
and the one who wrote the letter of intro
duction which Brown presented to Bell.
While in Canada, Brown and his men
did nothing but plan, and paid no atten-
ton to the questions Of inquisitive people
as to their business there. They were OF
jects of suspicion all the time they re-
manned, but no effort was ever made to
interfere with them in any way, except
the time of the fire mentioned above.
KAGI's LETTER.
NJ II