The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-04-04

1Om. PerndpS lney remember Emerson
heated. absurd and biasphemous remark.
excused 9nly by the fury and passion OF
the struggle between the friends and the
enemies Of slavery, that John Brown glor-
fled the gaIlows as Jesus Christ did the
trcss. Probably few persons have taken
the trouble TO read the tedious. eulogiStic
and disingenuous biography written by
ldr. Francis 3. Sanborn. but there seems
to be general acquiescance in the d-spo-
sition once peculiar to the rab.d, south
hating. Niger worshiping abobtioElsrs 10
perfume the old rufian with the odor OF
sanctity, and surround his crazy Old head
with the brightest kind of an aureole.
Il seems to me that a decent regard for
the comfy thai ought 10 exist between the
state of New York and the southern states
should be shown by the legislature To
the south John Brown is simply an in
vading murderer, incendiary, ard inciter
OF seryile instructions, who got consider
ably less than his deserts a. Harper's
Ferry. do not think that conservative
and Intelligent northern opinion OF him
will be much different. Lunacy is the
only plea that could avail 10 save his
reputation, and there was too much san
culinary deliberacon TO his madnesS. FIN
ally, he was as futile as he was blood
thirsty. What he planned and did. amount
ed 10 nothing. led TO nothing. Both in
Kansas and in Virginia he was an episode
without result. Nat Turner. the colored
Virginia insurrectionist and massacrer of
1881, was just as cruel, just as fanatcal
just as impotent in influence and result
The w!ping out took place on the night
Of May "a. 1886. 1 take description Of the
affair from the latest historian of those
times, Mr.. James Ford Rhodes. who tries
to be impartial and dWeIls Oh Browns
sincerity" Brown and his band went
first 20 the house of Doyle. and compelled
a father and two sons 10 so with him A
surviving son afterward testified, under
oath. that the next morning I found my
father and one brother, William, lying
dead in the road, about % yards from the
house. 1 saw my other brother lying on
the ground, about $50 yards from the
house. in the grass. near ravine: his
fingers were cut OFF and his arms We're
cut of; his head was cut open, and
hole was in his Jaw, as though IT We're
made by a knife. and a hole was also in
his side. Ny father was shot IN the fore
head and stabbed in the breast The
band then went 10 Wilkinson house,
reaching there past midnight They
forced him TO open the door. and demand
ed that he should go with them. His
wife was sick and helpless. and begged
that they would not take her husband
away. The prayer was of no avail. The
next day Wilkinson was found dead, "a
cash IN his head and side A little
later in the night the band killed William
Sherman in the same manner. In the
morning his body was found His skull
was split open in two places and some Of
his brains was washed out by the water.
A. large hole was cut in his breast, and his
left hand was cut off, except little piece
of skin on one side
The butchery was done with short cut
lesses. According to the testimony OF
one of the assassins, Old Brown shot the
elder Doyle. The next day old Brown,
his hands still sticky with blood, duly
prayed 10 heaven. A fine old gentleman,
heh, all of the olden time? What nice
old man, to be sure, l should say a
slaughter house would be better mem
ORAL of the old ruffian than a park. Why
not have a park in memory Of the hero
and martyr" Giteau?
This is a sad commentary on a hero.
1t is true that John Brown outraged
law. He misjudged the time for the
blow as he misjudgeG the
temper of the public sentiment on his
side and the dignity and power of the
law which was against him.
John Brown INDUCED in mob violence
in a cause which was burning in the
hearts of a majority of the people Of
the United tSates. The violation he
was guilty OF was inexcusable in the
light Of law and social safety. But in
the broader light Of history, which for
gets temporary enactments and TEN
porary social usages, but never forgets
g sublime motive, John Brown Will
ever stand out as a hero. whose name
will live in song and story and TO whose
memory centuries will pay homage III
a time when the bitterness Of the times
will have passed away and no man VIII
live to write such venomous stuff as
the above.
If the English will honor the maraud-
or jameson, how much more will the
Americans always honor the hardy ma
ture who struck an ul-advised and i'll
timed blow for the freedom of four
million human beings!