Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1901-10-19

knowledged that he was with John
| Brown at Harper's Ferry as one of
Osawatomie's raiders. He escaped at
the time of John Browns capture, but
| returned in disguise and was present
| at the execution of Brown and his
companions. This man is Jacob Wild
ner, and his home is in New Lisbon.
So far as he knows, he is the only
| survivor of John Browns party He
lives a quiet and retired life because
of age and poor health. and for many
years he concealed the fact of his par
| ticipatfon in the Harper's Ferry raid,
| fearing that it would create a preju-
dice against him. His mind is as clear
as to the stirring events of 1859 as it
was at that time, he says, and he gives
from memory this account of the at
tempt to cause a rebellion among the
slaves: '.On Sunday, October ,16, 1859,
John Brown and our men crossed the
railroad bridge over the Potomac river,
seized the United States arsenal,
stopped the railway trains, captured
number of citizens, set free such
slaves as they could find, and held the
town for more than twenty-four hours.
The telegraph lines were cut and arms
sent to the slaves, with the expectation
that they would rise at once, accord
ing to their previous agreement; but
this for some reason unknown to me
they refused to do. The situation was
thus unexpectedly made critical for us,
and our leader ordered pickets to be
established to warn us of the coming
OF the citizens, who were arming
against us. They attacked the arsenal
next day. When he saw them coming
John Brown gave us positive orders
not to begin ,hostilities, so we held our
fire until attacked. The first shots were
fired by the mob. We returned the fire,
of course, to the best of our ability,
and succeeded in holding them at bay
for time. 1t soon became apparent to
us, however, that the building could
not be maintained against our assail-
ants, whose numbers were increasing
every minute. Some of our men lost
heart then and attempted to escape.
One leaped into the river and swan
desperately for the other shore, but
before reaching it he was wounded. He
managed to scramble out upon a rock
in the river, and threw up his hands
in token of surrender A Virginian
waded out to him, and while he still
had his hands in the air the Virginian
shot him through the head, killing him
in cold blood. 1t was cruel deed, and
it convinced the rest of us that no
mercy would be shown to us if we fell
into the hands of the citizens. At the
suggestion of our leader we then
abandoned the. arsenal for an engine
house that stood near by, taking with
use our wounded and the prisoners.
We remained there all of Monday and
Monday night. On Tuesday morning we
learned that Colonel Robert E. Lee,
with a force of marines and some land
troops, had arrived, and that, backed
by the Virginia militia, he was about
to attack us. This information was
brought to us by two negro women,
who implored John Brown to make b s
escape. One of them offered him her
dress and suggested that he blacken
his hands and face as a disguise, but
he told her that he could not 60 The
other made the same offer to me, and
l had only just put on her gown when
the attack was made. Brown had told
us to do whatever seemed in our judg-
ment to be right, and 1 did not care
to sacrifice my life without an effort
to save it, When the attack was made
jumped through a rear window and
preceded me out of the window. Tkey
led me to little cave above the ferry,
where / was compelled to remain for
seventeen days. they supplying ne with
food. At the end of that time they said
it would be safe for me to attempt to
cross the river and get away. I made
the attempt, but my disguise was dis
covered on the other side, and if 1 had
not had in my possession few pieces
L would have been turned over to the
Virginians to share the gallows with
John Brown"
Mr. Wildner returned to Harper's
Ferry disguised as a negro woman,
and was present at the execution on
December % of John Brown and six of
his companions He could do nothing
for them, and did not betray his pres
ence to them, Mr.. WiIdner is emphatic
in his denial that Browns raid was
inspired by Abolitionists in the North
or that they had anything to do with
it. He insists that John Brown himself
conceived the idea of liberating the
slaves, and his followers, all strong an
ti-slavery men, entertained, with him.
the belief that the negroes would all
rise up at once and with their assist
ance gain freedom from bondage
While he does not believe that the
famous Harper's Ferry raid was a di-
rect cause of secession and the civil
war, Mr. Wildner says that If it did
have an important part in bringing on