Delaware gazette and state journal., 1896-03-19


persons on this continent 1t must
have been scene for a painter; the
group they three made, as they stood
together in the little reception room of
Mr.. Phillips Essex street house--the
blonde Boston gentleman, the stern
faced man who was to die on a gallows,
and the dark skinned Maryland woman.
John Brown and a colored man
named Loguen went to st. GATHERINGS g
in Canada to see Harriet, when Brown
was making preparations for his Vir-
ginia campaign Gorritt Smith paid
the expenses of this trip. Loguen
found Harriet's house in this town,
and informed her privately that Brown
was in the place, and asked her whether
she would 90 to the hotel and see him
or whether it would do for him to
come to see her. Harriet declares that
she was forewarned by dreams that
John Brown was TO come to her, and
she answered Loguen that the old man
might visit her home, for nobody would
hurt him there. She also sent for some
OF the colored people in the neighbor-
hood to come and see him.
When John Brown entered he shook
hands with her three times, saying:
The first | see is Gen. Tubman, the
second is Gen. Tubman and the third
is Con. Tubman. "
He sat down and explained his pur-
poses to her and to the negroes who
came in. AS is well known, his first
intention was to establish camp in
the Virginia mountains, and gather
together and run off fugitive slaves;
and he urged Harriet's friends to aid
him. He promised to send them word
when and where to Join him. He said
that in any raid they were to be called
upon to make, they we're not to destroy
property, injure children or insult
women. He also said that il in the
conflicts which he evidently antici.
pated, white men were taken prisoners,
they would be released on condition
that they would send to his party
colored men in numbers equal to their
own families.
John Brown remained in st. Cathe-
rine's several days, and saw Harriet
more than once. 1t is stated moreover,
that he framed his Constitution in her
house. lie told her, as no told many
other persons, that God had called him
to do something for the black man,
and he declared that he was not born
to be killed by a Sharpe's rifle or
bowie knife.
Many of the negroes in that town
promised to go to Brown when he sent
orders, but as the world knows, he
changed his plans afterwards attacked
Harper's Ferry, and never sent for his
Canadian recruits At this time, how
ever, he seems to have ha6 no doubtas
to what he should do A letter is pub
lished in f. B. Sanhorn's biography of
him, in which he says, speaking of
Harriet as IL she were a man:
am succeeding to all appearance
beyond my expectations. Harriet Tub
man hooked on his whole team at once.
lie is the most of man naturally that
| ever met with. There is the most
abundant material, and of the right
quality, in this quarter, beyond all
doubt"
When John Brown bade Harriet good
by, he again called her General
three times, and informed her that she
would hear from him through Doug
lass. This was probably the parting
which the writer once heard Harriet
| describe. when she stood on her door
step and gazed after him as long az she
could sec him, and then watched the
| omnibus which he had entered till
it was out of sight They were two
souls who dealt in action, but were
alike moved by impulses from mysti-
cal and hidden sources.
just before she met Capt. Brown in
Canada she had this dream. ''She
thought she was in a wilderness sort
Of place, all full of rocks and bushes,
whom she saw serpent raise its head
among the rocks, and AS il did so il
Became the head of an old man with
q long white beard, gazing at her wish
full like, jes' as ef he war gwine to speak
to me, and then two other heads
rose up beside him, younger than he,-
and as she stood looking at them, and
wondering what they could want with
her, a great crowd of men rushed in,
and struck down the younger heads,
and then the head of the old man,
still looking at her SO 'wishful. This
dream she had again and again and
could not interpret it; but when ehe
met Capt. Brown. shortly after, behold,
he was the very image of the head she
had seen. y When the news came TO
her OF the tragedy of Harper's Ferry,
then she know the two other heads
were his two sons.
Her own veneration for Capt.
Brown, " says the writer just quoted,
has always been profound, and since
his murder, has taken the form of re-
ligion."
After John Browns death, Harriet
visited Mr.. Sanburn in Concord; and
seeing in one OF his rooms, Brackett's
bust of the martyr Of Harper's Ferry,
she fell, says Mr.. Sanborn, Into sort
of ecstacy of sorrow and admiration,
and went on in her rhapsodical way to
pronounce his apotheosis. " Mr.. San
born also writes that he regards her
as on the whole the most extraordinary
person of her race" he has ever known !;
and in his estimate of her he lays much
emphasis on that inexplicable element
in her nature, which has always rem
dered her subject to tdreams, visions,
misgiyinGs and forewarnings. "
Harriet was sent South during the
| Civil War to perform scouting and other
| services; and she was taken along when
a portion of the army advanced into tho
interior under the command of Colonel
Montgomery, Kansas associate Of
John Browns, in order that she might
encourage and care for the negroes who
were found on the plantations and taken
back to Beaufort. Sometimes she
acted as spy, going secretly into the
rebel lines.
For many years now this remarkable
woman has lived in Auburn, New York.
She is very poor; but she devotes her-
self to the succor of colored men and
women more aged and wretched than
herself and she cares for helpless chill
dren VINO are allied to her race. Her
house is hospital for tho iniirm and
the sick. Her patience and charity
know no weariness. A few friends
| ASSist her, and wnndar al hnr 'tSha