The Topeka state journal., 1897-11-08


for all to assert and maintain his con-
stitutiOnal rights.
In June, 1897, he began agitating the
formation of a national anti-slavery So
ciety, and on the following Fourth of
July he printed these burning rehec-
tons upon the observance of the day:
This day reproaches US for our sloth
and inactivity. It is the day of our ma
tion's birth. Even as we write COM
rades are hurrying past our window, in
eager anticipation to the appointed
bower, to listen to the declaration that
"a1l men are created equal" to hear
the eloquent orator denounce in strains
Of manly indignation the attempt of
England to lay a yoke on our fathers
which neither they nor their children
could bear Alas, what bitter mockery
this isl We assemble to thank God for
our own freedom and eat with joy and
gladneSS of heart, While our feet are on
the necks of nearly 1900 600 of our fell
low men. Not all our shouts of self
cOngratulat atiOn can drown their grOanS;
even that very flag which waves over
our heads is formed from materials cul-
tivated by slaves on a soil mOistened
with their blood drawn from them by
the whip of a Republican taskmaster."
No sooner was this read than the
men of the city held a meeting in the
market house, and with strange incon-
sistency claimed the right to free
speech for themselves, while plotting to
deprive another of that same privilege.
A committee was appointed to request
LovejOy to cease agitating slavery mat
ters. The latter, fearing to meet him
face to face, sent him a letter to this
effect. He replied by denying their
right to dictate to him what he should
discuss, and rendered them at the
same time the use of his paper to refute
his arguments If they were incorrect.
But the malcontents chose a more sum-
mary course. On the night of August
25 a mob attacked the Observer office,
and after driving out the employees
completely demolished the press.
The act was boldly committed but no
attempt at punishment followed. The
anti-slavery citizens, deeply incensed
as they We're, had no choice but to sub
nit, and quietly sent for a new press.
This arrived in due time. but LOVejOy
was away at the time, and on the night
of its arrival it was taken from the
house and thrown into the Mississippi.
Then several public meetings were
held, the objects of which were to af-
feet a compromise, but it was a fore
gone conclusion that the friends of lib
erty must make all the concessions, and
it was also self-evident that LOVejOy
would never accede to this
Mr. Chairman" he said, " what have
I to compromise? If freely to forgive
those who have greatly WTOnged me, if
to pray for their temporal and eternal
happiness, if still to wish for the pros
perity of your city and state, nOtwith-
standing the wrongs and indi gnIUeS
have suffered in them, if this be the
compromise intended, then l willingly
make them. But do not admit that it
whether 1 shall or shall not publish a
paper in this city. 1 plant my
self down on my unquestiOnable rights,
and the question to be decided is wheth-
er 1 shall be protected in those rights.
You may hang me, as the mob hanged
at Vicksburg;yO may burn
me, as they did Mcintosh in St. Louis,
or you may tar and feather me and
throw me into the Mississippi, as you
have threatened to do, but you cannot
disgrace me; but, gentlemen, as
long as am an American citizen, and
as long as American blood runs in these
veins, I shall hold myself at liberty to
speak, to write, to publish whatever I
please on any subject, being amenab bic
to the laws of my country for the same.
< have sworn eternal opposition
to slavery, and by the blessing of God
I will never go back"
Thus the brave reformer defied his
fate, and when the fourth press arrived
early in the morning of November Z,
by steamer, it was evident that a crisis
was at hand 1t was stored in the stone
warehouse of Godfrey & Gilman. That
night a drunken mob demanded the
press. 1t being refused. an attack was
made on the building. The defenders
fired upon the mob, killing one and
wOunding several men. This cleared
the square for a time; but soon the at
tack was renewed. Another volley
caused a second retreat. The place
seemed deserted. The defenders sup
posed they had been victorious; a few
of them, with LOvejoy, stepped outside,
and in to the trap laid. A dozen as
sassins fired upon the editor from some
piles of cordwood, and with the words,
MY God, 1 am shot" he expired with
five bullets in his body.
After this the anti-sIavery troubles
ceased in Alton The Observer was
never revived and the incident passed
into history. But it seemed to have
left a blight upon the city. Up to that
time Alton promised to become the me-
trOpOliS of the Mississippi valley. It
was larger as it was also older than St.
Louis, and was the head of navigation
on the Mississippi. But with LOvejOys
death a period of retrOgreSSiOn set in
that lasted 20 years, and it is only with
in the past decade that the old and
beautiful bluff city has fully recovered
from the ban of that terrible expert
ance. The last surviving defender of
the last press, D. Burt LOOMS, then a
clerk with Godfrey & Gilman, died last
autumn at his home in Minneapolis, |
Mimi. Benjamin Godfrey, senior mem |
Der OF the firm of Godfrey & Gilman,
was then one of the best known busi- /
ness, men in the west, and his name is
further endeared to pOsterity as the |
founder of Monticello seminary.
For many years the martyr slept in
an unmarked grave, save for a pine
headboard bearing the initials 'E. P.
L." The present city cemetery was
then an open common. When it was
nclosed and Incorporated the head ]
board disappeared, and a street was
laid out over the grave. The keeper,
William Burden, however, marked the
location with two little headstones, and |
after several years Major Charles W. |
Hunter had the remains removed to a
ot directly opposite his own, where they
now lie. William Johnson, a cOlOred !
man who buried LOVejOy the first time, |
had charge also of his removal, and |
said that only a few fragments of bone
and dust was found. The grave was
then marked by a broken tombstone, on |
which was written in red chalk the
word s'Isovejoy'' A few years later
Thomas Dimmock of st. Louis, who
the true value of the lesson
IF Lovejoy's martyrdom as the de-
fender of a free American press. actu-
ated by a newspaper mans sense of
Justice, placed upon the grave its pres
ent mark-a scroll of Italian marble, |
resting on a pedestal of New England
granite, and bearing this inscription: