The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1897-09-11
do with it, but trusted him as worker

He was married twice and had twenty
children. He swore his sons TO devote
themselves with every privation to the
interests OF :he slave At Harper s
Ferry be calmly fet the pulse Of one Of
them, who was dying of wounds, while
he held his rifle in his other hand. In
one of his manuscript addresses to a
League of Gileadites," at Springfield
Mass. he said: Stand by one another
and by your friends while drop Of
blood remains, and be hanged if you
must. but tell no tales out of school,
Brown hired a small farm near
Harper's Ferry and went there with
some members OF his family in June
1859 He also assembled yenty-tWo
men besides himself, six OF whom were
colored, and OF all only six finally es
cired alive. Military drills had been
going on in various states for some time
before he went to Virginii. He also
had boxes Of pistols and rifles and 1000
pixies. To this day it is not known that
he had any definite plan in reg ard 10 the
possible cons 'quences OF bis un1ertak-
ing more than simply the establish
ment on slave soil OF defsnsible station
for fugit We slaves, within reach OF the
Pennsylvania border, Sd that bodies of
slaves could hold their own for a time
against supe rior force. and could be
transferred if necessary. through the
free States to Canada" Certainly there
was enough in this part Of the Ilan to
blanch eveey cheek in Virginia.
Yee. the ripping laughter oied out.
aud secret tears came to many an eye.
The banjo gave forth no more the stu
ring CT plaintive melodies, tic evening
dance was unthought OF, and ominous'y
enough, the sorgs of the negroes in the
fields, about the corn cribs aud tot acco
hou SEES and at the cabins, were be AID no
more. The slaves did not read news
papers, but they had mysterious way
OF communicating news, so that IT went
quickly from plantation to plantat on.
The whites talked with each other in
secret, as they had never done before.
Silence or whispering. caution, watch
ing and dread had. in few short hours
on the plantations, taken tie place OF
Joy uncOntined and universal. | stood
one morning on the porch of one If
't-ese Virginia mansions viewing ths
beauties of the Blue Ridge mountains.
when child Of the household ap-
preached me and said, Whose dead!'
On Sunday night, October Is, 1859,
Brown mustered eight zen of his men
and said, Men. get on your arms; We
will proceed to the Ferry" 1t was very
dark and raining. At half past ten they
reached the armory gate and broke it in
with crowbar, overpOwering the few
watchmen on duty. Before midnight
the village was in their possession with
out firing a gun. Six men were then
sent out to bring in neightOring plant
ers with their slaves. Other citizens
were held as hostages. Gradually the
citizens armed themselves. and some
shots were exchanged, killing several
men.
CO.. Robert Z. Lee arrived from Wash
ineton i J the evening with company
ct United States marinee, az Brown had
allowed train to pass through which
carried the startling Lews Of his raid.
He and his fo,ce-now REDUCED to SIX
men-were ta-ricadcd in the engine
house, where they were shot down, one
by one. Brown refused ID surrender.
and encouraged his men 10 stand firm.