The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-10-26
Ghe Messenger.


and murderer, John Brown, OF Potta-
watomie massacre, now infamy- We
have not seen MS volume. so great a
waste Of time in preparation, but it is
not Of the run-mad. heroic worshipping
sort. W. see stated in a review OF 1t in
the New York Saturday Review. But
thai literary weekly, very northern,
says this, very much to the disgust no
doubt, of every southern subscriber who
may read it:
The story Of old John Brown is a
perennial one, and must so remain, as
is that of all lives that were absolute
Iy sincere, ~forceful. and single-hearted
when devoted to absorbing human pro-
bIems and struggles"
The probability is that a more fanat-
fcaI scoundrel eve lived. 1t seems
thai there has been written before
some three or four biographies OF this
bad man by northern admirers Of the
rabid type Mr.. Connolly is a Tennes-
seean by birth He is probably a re-
publican. a disciple of Brownlow, and
n man of northern sympathies If OF
southern parentage-
We would not have referred 10 this
most recent attempt TO give John Brown
character but for a short article We
happened TO see in the same literary
weekly by a scholarly gentleman of
Baltimore. a man of letters and Gull
-ture, Mr.. Eugene l.. Didier. The cause
OF his article is given by him. 1t
seems it was proposed by some COM
mittee or men to ave JOIN Brown
among the alleged '1mmortals" who
ara to find a place in the Hall of
Fame of the university of New York.
dc John of course would appear in
full paint and feathers, and with hands
7xreaking with the blood of his Kansas
victims. Think of the old ~phrenSied
barbarian sitting with ana where
Washington, Lee and other truly great
men are introduced. 1t would be a
great shock and offence. we may not
doubt, to every southern man Of pro-
per patriotism and sensibilitieS and re-
gard for the eternal fitness of things"
to see sue a proposition made, much
less fulfilled. 1t was plainly an out
rage Upon decency, responsibility, vir-
tue. manhood, character Mr.. Didier
protested and a Mr.. j. S. Gaines pro-
tested in turn at what Mr.. d. said. Mr..
Did1er replies briefly in the weekly
named above, and with plainness and
emphisis of speech. AS old Brown Ia
one OF the northern idols. ana a scoun-
drei of the first order, we give a part
of what the accomplished Baltimorean
writes:
THAI he was a robber and murderer
history proves From persons now Hv-
ing, who were in the vicinity of Har-
per'S Ferry, in October, 1859, / have as
~oeTtained that in advance of the raid
ON Virginia, John Brown sent his en-
issaries, under the guise of book agents
TO visit the homes of the people in
Maryland and Virginia In order to ex-
cite the slaves to Instruction. These
so-called o agents accepted the
hospitality of the farmers. talked very
smoothly in the parlOr and bade the
family goodnight, and retired. But,
instead of going to bed. they went 20
the kitchen and tried TIC persuade the
slaves to kill their masters in
sleep"
The explanation given of the course
Of Gaines is easy, and let's him down-
He is not an Anglo-Saxon. and we sup
pose is "a gentleman of African de-
scent" Mr.. Didier tells an old story
buI all true, when m writes:
u am rot welded to the 'petTiied
ideals of he days of slavery. But l
there never was a happier. a
more contented and better treated peo-
pie on the face of the earth than the
slaves; and 1 know there IS
not. and never was, d more degraded,
- brutal q mora shameless Dpn-
pie on the earth han the children and
the grandchildren of those same slaves,
and that, too after t~hirty-ive a OF
blessed freedom
Since Mr.. Didier published in the Sat-
urday Review, a weekly of high char
acter, there appeared an article of
value in the issue of October
18th, Mr.. Redpath, the writer referred
I'd, was an admirer of Brown origin
ally. Mr.. Augustus A. Levy, of New
York City, writes of the character OF
John Brown saying that during the
last year of the life of James Redpath.
L enquired why he did not publish an
other edition of his life of Brown.
demand Mr.. Redpath. who was one OF
the most conscientious men 1 have
ever known, informed me that he had
reason for changing the opinion he had
expressed in his biography. which he
mad written currente calamo in two
weeks after the of Brown;
that he now regardede Brown as a
<eans- hIooded murderer referring to
his attack on the sleeping men of Os-
amatomie as a deliberate and ~inexcusa-
ble massacre of unresisting human be-
ings.
"Mr. Redpath expressed regret to me
that, acting upon h impulse OF con-
6emporaneous enthusiasm, he a ever
written about Brown in laudatory
terms"
This worship of such a brutal villain
by men and women in the north is not
only marvellous but degrading. The
odd way of spelling the place OF the
murderer in Kansas is given in lis ex-