The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-11
JOHN BROWN IN KANSAS
JOHN ARMSTRONG, OF TOPE-
 K4,
An Active Underground Railroad Man,
 Recalls Those Days.

Topeka. the house in which runaway slaves were quartered awaiting trans portation to Canada in the days of the Underground railroad" There is also living in Topeka the man who plioted the first load of slaves out of Kansas on the underground railroad. The house referred to is at 427 Quincy street, and the man is John Armstrong, the only survivor of the little body of men who selected the site for Topeka.
 This same man was an intimate friend of John Brown, and he still De- leves firmly in the fearless anti-slaVe- " champion who was combination or pat riot fanatic and outlaw. He says that Brown was one of the most reli- gious as well as one of the most coura- geous of men, and that he was abso- lutely devoted to one thing-the extinc- tion of slavery, and in every act of the closing years of his life he never did thing that he did not believe would add fuel to the fire which would finally con- sume the institution of human slavery.
 When the underground railroad was organized under Browns directions in 1857 one Of his lieutenants was Jorn Armstrong of Topeka. He had as his helpers in this vicinity Colonel John Ritchie, Jacob Willits and Daniel Sher- den who lived on the Highland Park hill on the farm now occupied by Mrs. Curry. The women slaves were kept at the home of Mrs. William Scales at AZ Quincy street, and the men at either Colonel Ritchie's, Sheriden's or lWlllts The first stopping place on the way to Canada was at the home Of William Bowker, north of the city, or at Will liam Owens,' another farmer, who still tives near Rochester.
 The first load of slaves, says MT. Armstrong, was brought to Topeka in February, 1857 and there were three slaves in the party They left Topeka in charge of MT. Armstrong and man named Mills
 They were carried in closed wagon and either MT. Mills or MT. Armstrong did the driving, while the negroes were kept concealed. There was no incident of interest during the trip, and the two men returned to Topeka in three weeks after having delivered their human freight at Silver Bend, near Tabor. la The next load of slaves left Topeka i've or six months later, and was in charge of Rev. Lewis Bodwell pastor of the Congregational church, and man named Emerson.
 Later the slaves were simply deltv- cred at the stations, where some one in sympathy with the cause took charge and delivered them at the next station farther north. Sometimes the slaves were taken across the river at rope ka and at others they were rowed across at the Billiard farm, which is now a part of Oakland, the Billiard family assisting.
 When John Brown came to Topeka he usually stopped N the Sheriden home at Highland Park 9or there was price upon his head and he was particular not to make himself conspicuous when he went abroad When Brown finally left Kansas in 1859 he passed through Tope- ka. but MT Armstrong was not at home and did not see him. He stopped with Sheriden, and had three families of slaves. MT. Armstrong thinks that Brown had three wagons, and J. H. Kagi and Whipple, who afterward lost their lives with Brown at Harper's Ferry were with him. kagi and Whipple both lived in Topeka. Whip ple's right name was Aaron Dwight Stevens The following account of this expedition is in Ms Armstrong's own words:
 ..It was on Sunday and l was on my way to church when messenger rode up and handed me message. It was a note from John Brown, and he said he was surrounded by Deputy United States Marshal c. N. O. P. Wood at pr, Fuller's, six miles above Holton. The church was held in a two-story school house on the property which IS now oc- cupied by the Jacob Smith homestead at Fifth and Harrison streets. l went to the church and called Colonel John Ritchie, who was already there, and by four o'clock we had raised a company of sixteen men to go to the relief or Brown.
 'tWe lost no time in starting, and at four o'clock in the morning we reached Holton. where we stopped to rest and get breakfast. It was there that first saw Major Tom Anderson, who joined our party at Holton. We sent word to Brown that we were coming, and when we r6dCnPQ LIT T ullcl IoipNii Ie"L 'iAS teams hitched up and was all ready to start.
 woods crowd were some distance ahead. near log schoo-house, and when we moved forward, they fell back to q stream known as Walnut creek l advised Brown to go up the stream some distance to cross, for the Walnut crossing was very bad and l knew 1t, because I had been caught in it while going through with slaves, but he re- fused to take my advice, He said that he would not deviate one inch from the route he had planned. We moved on down to the creek, and Woods retreat ed without attempting to capture us or firing a shot There were three young men from Atchison who were so dis e,sted with Woods that they refused to retreat. and we captured them at the creek. Woods had twenty-six men, and he could have wiped us off the face of the earth as we marched down the creek. if he had made a stand. This IS now called ''the battle of the spurs. Brown got stuck in the mud at the crossing and was there all day. We
 4 o,, with tIe Brown party on the