The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-12-22
Attempted Escape Of Cope
land, Leary and Haga
Vividly Described.
BRIBES AND THREATS
B!ood-sta d Letter Onc of These, and
Cipher Epist.es agd The Writings OF
Crsnks Make Up the Ninety
sud More of the Newly
Discovered Brown
fnrers.
BRIBES AND THREATS

While revealing many facts OF import
nnce TO the historian, the newly discor-
cred John Brown letters. which are now
made public for the .irst time through
The enterprise OF The Times, are Chiefly
Interesting, possibly. as rejecting the ire
r1lendous, feeling, which was aroused by,
end which preceded the execution Of
Brown. At that time the United States
was trembling OH The LrinlS of its great
est crisis. the Civil War, and. say the
writers of history, possibly no incident
vas more directly ti1o cause of this war
than was the John Brown case. After
having been lost to tho world for forty
one years, these papers, IS given now,
arc of eminent interest, as clearing away
- Of history
There are only q few less than a nun
cred of these letters. and everyone. to
the strideut. is or Importance One is
biood stained grewsomelE so: but still
more PRECIOUS a sheet of letter paper
hearing notes in the Handwriting of the
prosecutor of The Brown band and StY-
ing the names Of those leaders in 1t as
revealed by Brown himself is in the lot.
Among the writer's of the letters gen
orally We're cranls. fanatics, earnest
Brown stood. and the ubiquitous AUTO
graph tiend. While the great majority
of them are letters of sympathy and
promises of relief there are somo scath-
Dug dcnunciations, notab'U' ono from
Chattanooga, Tenn, for outrages in
Kansas
SCHEMES TO ShTE HIM.
For The relief of Brown and the cheat
sng OF the degree Of death there arc a
score or more schemes. Most Of these
depended upon arms. vet some talk OF
strategy and others oi hribcs. Some are
threats OF kidnapping his prosecutors
and holding their lives against his. and
nearly half a hundred promise that he
shall be saved from the Salows at any
cost. Various forces, ranging in numbers
from 25,0l1 10 live men, these letters say.
had been organized and equipped TO save
linn. and these promises are in all man
ner of lardwritipgs.
In this connection, it is Interesting TO
know that not one Of the hundred let
tcis. which promised relief OF some sort
ever fell under the eyes of John Brown
They were all Intercepted by his JalicrS,
5s were several from the prisoners 70
friends outside and turned over to Mr..
Andrew lIlmtcr Who was the spacai
yroSccutionG attorney for the State.
By him they were used in the famous
trial ftlle marauder. Many of them
possessing rare Gragsadocio and some
the handwriting of En- Hunter as
Nonsense. lbsurd.@ with a few other
siriii;Iily expressive adjectiNcs.
CIPHER LETTERS.
There ere. toe. several cipher letters
in the lot. One Of these is absolutely un-
GeciphcrabIc thus far. Il appears to be
3 combination of Shorth n1 tclcSraphic
rIgns, Greek letters, punrtuatiun marks
end arbitrary signs. 1t is doubtful If
John Browr possessed the key TO this.
Other Of the cipllers arc r!diculously sim
pic and absurd, sone being merely the
reversa! OF the spelling Of words. others
being letters ACCORDING 20 number, the
simplest of all ciphcrs. and still an
other. which. by The way. is largely used,
heipg cahalistic signs. used mainly as
signatures, Which. aye, o. course, undo
efpherahle
In this mass OF matter possibly the
p,pst interesting of all is The List of
Insurgents as furnished ME ny Brown
and Stephens AT llarpcr's FERN, which
endorsement is signed "A. IL, meaning
Andrew Hunter anG n vivid descl"ptol
Of the capture of some of the HarperS S
Ferry raiders III the words Of one OF the
prisoners. the negro Copeland. At the
same time this list was given t" Mr..
Hunter JOHN Brown must have revealed
all the inner workings of the gang, ST
Nticf fa was the head bccaus.. on the
sheet of paper where the ni,ies were
merely penciied. is n note in Mr.. Hun
ters hand, stating that the organizatic;1
had a constitution and ordinance. Sc
.Sond this no Fight is thrown on the work
sngs of Ire Brown gang.
ATTEMPTED ESCAPE.
The description of the capture r.ld OK
termination OF the band OF men uncer
the leadership OF Captain lnaga, astold
by Copeland, the negro. is exciting 1t
eee,ns that Captain kaga. Lcaiy, 4 ne
gro. and Copeland were surrounded IN
building and attempted to escape by
swimming the Shenandoah River. kaga.
the %lite leader Of this small party. MS
in front. and the fire of the rifles was
concentrated on him. lie was shot. an@
sank. as escape was onlv few tecf
away. Leary was also shot, but lived
several hours. and Copeland shot IN
many places and fearfplly muuIated by
,fhe bullets. WAS swept ashore. where he
was captured. lie was taken 70 prison.
where he wrote this lette-:
Possibly tho ::.ost pathetic OF al the
letters were those of tie friends and
relatiVes ol JOHN Br"si, and those writ
teni by Copeland and Stevens so,n The
t.,yl, s5x,-.t ,.,n