Omaha daily bee., 1895-09-28
THE TERROR OF THE BORDER
Pillage of Lawrence, Kan, by Quantrell
and His Men.
RECoLLEcTloNS OF BARBARIc BRUTALITY
story Told by One who Was with
the Attacking Pnrty-Cnuses that
Inspired the Raid and Added
to It's Atrocities.

The terror Of the border during the war
was Quantrell. The southern contingent that
happened to live in the country which the
guerrilla chief crossed dreaded him because
his vengeance on the union contingent was so
swift and merciless that 1t necessarily revived
the Mosaic law that demanded an eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth. The catalogue
Of blood and arson opposite the name of this
terror is too long for any publication, even
IL such a thing were advisable or of any
interest. But one may be revived thirty-two
years after.
| have been asked sometimes. facetiously,
IL | was with Quantrell at Lawrence. And
then some one would ask seriously II the
sacking Of the Kansas town was really as
terrible as it was described at the time. 1t
was worse. When Quantrell applied the
torch to it and shot down people in the
streets it was expected. jim Lane, a COM
bination Of Butcher and Cambronne, with
the adventure of the westerner, lived there.
He was in command Of a camp OF federals
there at the time. Jim Lane had taught the
people of his state what war meant. And
when Quantrell dashed upon the town uneX-
pectedly people knew what to expect. But
they did not realize the extent of the at
tack until they came to count the DEAD ana
Inc homeless Cnllnney AKA DidShyhtH VANS
By that time Lane was squirting his horse
in one direction for safety, and the Missouri
guerrilla was riding as swiftly in the other,
headed for the state where he always found
Rest and a guide, and food and fire.
AN EXPECTED TRAGEDY.
The plllage of Lawrence was not uneX-
pected. Because it was the headquarters OF
Jim Lane was enough to make it conspicu-
Gus. Wherever Jim Lane lived there was
something likely to occur, and 1t was always
safe to prophesy that 1t would be done en-
tirely different from the plan of any other.
Besides, in the days before the war, Law
renee, in the opinion of Missourians, was
headquarters for most of the dare-deviltry of
Kansas in the time when two sections of the
union were fighting over the territory in the
national congress.
One of Quantrell's men had lived In Law
renee, and because he was an avowed rebel
he was told to leave the town. He under
took to pooh-pooh the request. One night
he awoke in his burning house. He barely
escaped with his life. He hid in the grass
until somebody heard him cry from hunger,
and he was given a suit of clothes, with the
understanding that he was not to return to
Lawrence.
These three-Jim Lane, Missouri hatred and
the man whose house was burned (his name
was Yager)-were responsible for the pillage
Of Lawrence.
johnson county, Missouri, is on the Kansas
border. At one time, shortly after the war
began, there were not enough men in John
son county to raise a crop of corn. The
women did it. The mich COW, which fur
nished a good share of the substance for the
household, was hitched to the pillow, and had
an hour at noon for grazing. AS the war
went on the jayhawker rode over into john
son county and foraged. AS far away as
they were from their homes, many of the
confederates from the border counties heard
of the raids, and in one way or another came
back for revenge. Hence the guerrilla. Of
course, not all guerrillas were confederate
soldiers, nor were all jayhawkers union sol
diers.
PRIVATE WRONGS TO AVENGE.
There is an ugly, sluggish and mean little
stream in johnson county known as Black
water. 1t is crooked and on either side are
dense forests. In a house in one of these
thickets lived the family of a man named
Purdee. He was a confederate captain and
left a lovely wife when he went to war. The
jayhawkers pillaged his house and insulted
his wife. He heard Of it, and returned and
became one Of the Quantrell riders. Like
Wager, this man longed to go over in Kansas
and "get even" That was The principle, if
there was anything of that sort, involved in
the struggle on the border.
Purdea had talked to Quantrell a good deal
about Kansas, and it was finally agreed that
the matter would be discussed at the home
of Purdee on the banks of Blackwater.
Names and figures make dull reading in
this sort of writing, but there is something
picturesque in the list Of those present" at
Purdee's house the night the Kansas inva-
sion was planned. | can vouch for the truth
of the list, for it was given me as a "souve-
mir by one who was there:
Tuck Hill, Woot Hill, VIII Hulse, James
Kinds, Ben %Broomfeld, Dick wager, Tom
Maupin, Cole Younger, Ben Morrow, Sid
Creek, Fletch Taylor, James Little, Colonel
John Holt, Colonel Boaz Roberts, Frank and
Jesse James. Sim Whitsett and others"
In all there were 80. The men who were
admitted to the council were: Blunt, Todd,
Jarrette, Holt, Eustis, Cole Younger, Dick
Anderson, Dick Wager and Todd. Dick wager
made his speech. Then Quantrell told how
he had anticipated the move, and had sent a
spy to Lawrence, who had lived at the
Eldridge house, 1.-The first class house of the
city," as a cattle Spectator. He bought
whisky and occasionally opened a bottle of
wine at the same table with Jim Lane.
Quantrell said the gentleman" would report
If no one had any objection, and thereupon
Fletcher Taylor stood up and gave a graphic
story Of his sojourn in Lawrence as a cattle
Spectator. He showed them, in the dust,
where the enemy was encamped, and he
said the streets were so broad that "a charge
upon any of them would be like riding at a
tournament"
Then the chief guerrilla told them that
somebody would probably get hurt in the in
yasion, and that he would not re3.!-e any one
to go who did not want to go-that is, any
of those at the council.
John N. Edwards, who was the Historian
of the warfare on the border gives an ac-
curate account of the way in which the con-
clusion was reached:
Quantrell stood up and called the roll, each
man giving his opinion on the proposition as
his name was spoken:
Anderson"
Lawrence or hell. but with one proviso.
that we kill every male being"
Todd"
Lawrence; if l knew that not a man would
get back alive"
Gregg
Lawrence; it is the home Of Jim Lane.
the foster mother of the red legs; the nurse
of the jayhawkers."
Shepherd"
Lawrence; l know it Of old; niggers and
white people are just the sam there; it's a
Boston colony and it should be wiped out"
"Jarrette."
Lawrence, by all means, I've had my eye
upon it for a year. The head devil of all
this killing and burning in Jackson county.
| vote to fight it with fre-to burn it before
we leave it,"
"Dick MattoX,"
Lawrence; an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth. God understands better than
we do the equilibrium of civil war"
Holt"
Lawrence; and quick about It,"
wager"
where my house once stood there is a
heap Of ashes. | haven't a neighbor that's
got a house-Lawrence and the torch"
''Rlunt