The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-07-10

in Kansas but throughout the east
where Brown was given the support
Kansas and Virginia the demand for
John Brown relics is growing. There
are already many Brown historical col
lections and 1t seems strange that the
scaffOld on which he met his death has
not already been restored.
After the execution Of the Martyr of
Virginia" the scaffold which was erected
for that event was taken down and its
timbers were built into the porch of
private dwelling in Richmond. That is
the story. Probably much of the wood
will be unrecognizable. There are a few
chips from the structure in the colec-
tions over the country. one of them in
small bottle in the Brown case in the
Kansas Historical society's museum.
Could the entire scaffOld, or enough Of
1t to be restored to its original shape
and proportion be secured and set up in
the StatehOuSe it would attract the in
terest of every American. For The fame
of John Brown has chung to history as
that of many greater and more sue
cessful figure has not
John Brown was executed in the pris-
on yard Of Richmond, Va, on Deem
Der 2, 1859, after lying in prison from
October 16. the date of his sensational
raid upon Harper's Ferry. He was hung
after a trial at which he was convicted
spring and advising with slaves and
others to rebel and of murder in the
first degree" At that trial Brown lay
wounded on a pallet in the court room.
At times he raised himself upon his
elbow and twice or oftener steadied
himself upon his feet to address the
court In prison he refused to recognize
some of his comrades in the hope of de-
ceiving his captors into thinking they
were not implicated with him in mis- at
tack upon the fort. 1t is the value of
relics that they bring to the mind of
the person who sees them the events or
associations in which or with which
they were concerned.
There are other things in the collec-
tons of the Kansas Historical society
which bring up the history of John
Browns operations. In following them
and listening to the stories which they
tell one follows him from Connecticut
to Kansas From the raid in Missouri
conveying fugitive slaves through Kan
sas, Nebraska, Iowa to Canada along
the route of the underground railway
There is the fragment of wood from the
cabin on Pony creek There, in the I'M
broken woods and uplands of northern
Brown county, he laid concealed or
stopped for rest and food for himself
and the black men and women whom
he had led up out of Egypt. In the pic
ture is a representation of another
cabin.
In this old cabin John Brown is said
to have done many things. 1t stood in
the open prairie a mile southwest of
ty and it is probable that the stories
connected with it are principally ficti-
] tious. In it John Brown certainly took
refuge at times after one of his little
( difficulties with the Missouri authorities
/ or rangers and he used it as station
| for his underground railway. But it is
/ not now believed that he lived in it or
used it for headquarters as has been
told. It is said that he here wrote his
| Parallels for the Lawrence Republic
can and New York Tribune Here he
is said to have successfully secreted
eleven slaves for month while posse
of Missouri sheriffs ranged the country
round him. But these stories are dis
credited Now it is thought this was
only one of the many places where
Brown and his men put up" for the
night While engaged in his rovings and
/ raidings-
4 never shed the blood of a fellow
man." said John Brown, except IN self
defense or in promotion of a righteous
cause"
| But there was occasion for deal OF