Evening bulletin., 1910-09-15

ne may nave Deen Hl.'l Wv IVlHtih-
able mind. as vol IA Of wonderful
will Whatever he was, he was one
of the pivots upon which American
history turns.
He was born of poor parents In
Connecticut in 1900, There was Welsh
and Dutch blood In him Ms vol AS
English, Ills family went to the Con-
noctcut settlements in Ohio, the
Western Reserve" in 1905. There
he learned the frontier arts Of hcrding
cattle, riding, hunting and shooting
straight. II was hard life and II
made him hard of body but he re-
mained gentle of heart. At l6 he
went back to Connecticut to attend
school. but an inflammation of the
eyes forced him to quit his studies.
Returning to Ohio, he married at 20.
His wife died at the end of eleven
years, and he married again. In all,
twenty children were born to him.
Seven died In infancy. His sons
fought by his side
Brown was OF a wandering disposi-
| tion. From Ohio he had gone to
Pennsylvania In 1926 In 1885 he re-
turned to Ohio. He visited Virginia
and wished that he might live there.
In lS4S he removed to Springfield,
Mass, as the agent of western wool
growers. Five years later he became
bankrupt through taking a cargo Of
/ 80, E.,s,lanI Tho, hA -
North Elba in the Adirondacks.
Gorritt Smith, rich abolitionist,
was trying to colonize freed negrnCs
there, and this enterprise attracted
Brown. But the experiment failed.
Brown was an abolitionist by in
hertancc. His father had grounded
him In the faith. lie used to help
runaway slaves when he lived In
Pennsylvania. lie proposed II scheme
Tor northerners to purchase the free.
dom of slave children. lie had
negroes in his family in Ohio, treat,
ing them as his equals. But although
In 1887 he swore his children to hos
tility to slavery he was not an active
worker against II until 1850.
In IS49 he had begun to study the
art of war. AT the time of his visi
to England he went to the continent
to learn somct,dng of military mat
ters. He particularly studied Ma
poloon's campaigns Apparently 1
project of getting up slave revol
was now present in his mind.
In 1854 five of his sons settled a
Osawatomia, Kas. The state wa
then in the throes of the struggl,
for possession of its government be
tween the slavery and the anti-slav
cry elements. The sons became In
volved 'in this struggle and wrote 4
their father for some arms and hnall!
to come himself He sent the arm
and three months later he came
lie was made captain Of free
state company and took part in rang
aud bushwacking. On one occasion
he executed" five proslavery men VIII,
had been terrorizing their neighbor
hood, For this Missourians burne,
the houses Of the family and two SON
were arrested by the federal author
tiles.
Brown kept on fighting. In on,
battle twenty-three men surrendcrCt
to Browns force of nine. lie planne,
to keep them captive until the author
tiles had liberated an equal numbc
Of free-stnte men, but force of Uni
ted States cavalry rescued them, re
fusing to arrest Brown, however. lii
son Frederick was killed in an attacl
upon Osawantomie by 400 proslav
cry men Brown ambushed the 40
with thirty free-soilers, killed ant
wounded eighty and escaped with
loss of one man killed and thre,
wounded lie was in several othe
engagements.
In 1853 he went to Boston and Sc
cured money from itbOlitiOnists. Tw,
hundred rifles had already been ship
ped to him at his headquarters II
saying they were for use in Kansas
War In that state became lively an,
Brown was impOrtuned to return. be
ing addressed as general" by tn
free-state leaders He wrote encour
aging letters and assembled som
young men In Iowa. But he had n
81 intention of going to Kansas or let
ting his arms go thirther, lie wa
preparing TO attack the arsenal a
Iiarper's Ferry, call slaves aroun
him and from the Virginia mountain
carry on war against slavery b
slaves themselves,
lie appeared at Harpers Ferry n
farmer seeking home, Rentin
house, little by little he got his rifle
aud spears there, Spears were con
sidercd good weapons for the nogroel
unused 10 firearms His mon, twenty
two In number, arrived
sunday night, Oct NJ, 1853, h
seized the town aud arsenal aud seJ
parties inlu thu surrumduE rmulr
ln llhrptH uud athrr m bluYua Ma