Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1916-06-28
EXTRACTS FROM THE AUTO
BIOGRAPHY OF
ZANE GREY SWISSHELM
First Newspaper Woman OF.
Minnesota.
A Remarkable Woman Of Ante.
beIIum Days-1815-1865
c. II A p T ER XXXVI.
The Minnesota Dictator.


semi-barbaric splendor in an impos.
ing house on the bank of the Missis-
sippi, where he kept slaves, bringing
them from and returning them to his
Tennessee estate, at his convenience
and no man saying him nay.
He owned immense tracts of land
had and disposed of all the govern.
ment contracts he pleased: Travelled
over Europe with his salaried physi
clan: said to this man go" and he
went, to that come and he came
and to third "do this" and it was
done. But Of all his commands "go'
was most potent; for. as president OF
claim club his orders to pre-emp'
tors were enforced by Judge Lynch
He never condescended to go to Con.
gress. but sent an agent: furnished
all the Democratic votes that could
possibly be wanted in any emergency,
and nobody wondered when a good
list came from a precinct in which no
one lived.
Republicans on their arrival in his
dominion, were converted to the
Democratic faith, fast as sinners to
Christianity in Maftit meeting, and
those on whom the spirit fell not. kept
very quiet. People had gone there to
make homes. not to fight the South
ern tiger. and any attempt against
such overwhelming odds seemed mad
ness, for Lowrie's dominion was
largely legitimate. He was one of
those who are born to commanded
splendid physique and dignified bear
int IN
fascination. His natural advantages
had been increased by a liberal edu-
cation; he had been brought up among
slaves. lived among Indians as agent
and interpreter. felt his own super
iority. and asserted it with the full
force of honest conviction.
On all hands he was spoken of as
Dictator. and there was both love and
which he governed. His father was
a Presbyterian minister. who taught
that slavery was divine, and both
were generous and lenient masters.
He was the embodiment of the slave
power. All its brute force, pious pre-.
lenses, plausi5ility, chivalry, all the
good and bad of the Southern charac-
ter; all the weapons Of the army OF
despotism were concentrated in this
man, the friend of my friends, the
man who stood ready to set me on
the pinnacle of social distinction by
his recognition. Across the body of
the PROSTATE slave lay the road to
wealth, and many good men had shut
their eyes and stepped over.
The territorial government under
Buchanan was mere tool of slavery.
Every federal officer was Southern
err, or a Northern man with Southern
principles. Government gold flowed
freely in that channel, and to the
eagles Gen. Lowrie had but to say,
as to his other servants, "come," and
they flew into his exchequer.
So thoroughly was Minnesota under
the feet of slavery, that in Septem>
Der, '60,-after we thought the State
redeemed-the house of William D.
Rabbit, in Minneapolis, was surround
ed from midnight until morning by
bowling mob, stoning it, firing guns
and pistols, attempting to force doors
and windows, and only prevented
gaining entrance by the solidity Of
the building and the bravery of it's
defense. 1t was thus besieged because
its owner and occupant had dared in
terfere to execute the common law in
favor of freedom.
Minneapolis and it's twin-city St.
Anthony each had large first-class
hotel, to which Southern people re-
sorted in summer, bringing their
slaves, holding them often for months,
and taking them back to the South,
no one daring to make objections; un>
til one woman, Eliza Winston, appeal
ed to Mr.. Babbitt, who took her into
court. where Judge Vanderbilt de-
creed her freedom, on the ground that
her claimant had forfeited his title
by bringing her into a free State.
At the rendering of this decree,
Rev. Knickerbocker, rector of the on
ly Protestant Episcopal Church in the
city, arose in open court, and charged
the judge with giving an unrighteous
Judgment He condemned the law as
at war with Scripture and the rights
of the master, and it's enforcement
as injurious to the best interests of
the community. 1t was the old story
of Demetrius; and the people, already
keenly alive to the profit of boarding
Southern families with their serv-
ants, were glad to have mantle of
piety thrown over their love of gain.
The court room was packed, and un-
der the eloquent appeal of the rever-
end gentleman, it soon became evil
dent the populace would make rush,
take the woman out of the hands OF
the law, and deliver her to the mas
ter
She and her friends had about lost
hope, when an unlocked for diversion
called attention from them. The red
head of "Bill King" afterwards post.
\ master of the U. S. House of Repre-.
sentatives, arose, like the burning
bush at the foot of Mount Horeb, and
his stentorian voice poured forth such
a torrent of denunciation on priest.
craft, such a flood Of solid swearing
against the insolence and tyranny of
ecclesiasticism, that people were sur.
prised into inactivity, until Mr.. Bah.
bitt got the woman in his carriage and
drove off with her.
There could no longer be a question
of her legal right to her own body
and soul; but her friends knew that
the law of freedom had lain too long
dormant to be enforced now without