Evening star., 1940-07-21
Story Of
Eyewitness

cial article In its issue
Story OF of July 10. 1890, has
Fvaw;tnaee in his possession an
interesting relic of the
raid of John Brown at Harpers Ferry
in 1859. This is one Of the spears used
by Brown and his men when they at.
tempted the liberation of the slaves In
that vicinity. The spearhead is Of iron,
about eight inches in length, and Is like
a two-edged knife blade on q substan-
tial socket, into which the stan-a piece
Of hickory six feet longs fastened. Mr..
Allen secured this relic, as well IS rife,
when. after Browns capture, he and
some others were pressed into service
and placed on duty at the engine house
to guard the old abolitionist and those
captured with him.
"Mr. Allen had been employed by
citizen to capture two Of his slaves who
had run away. The only clue as to the
direction the fugitives had taken was
information that they had gone up the
canal. At the time Of their departure
there had been no tidings received here
of Browns intentions, although It was
possible that some of the slaves had
been privately notified of them. Mr..
Allen came to the conclusion that the
runaways might be headed of by taking
the railroad and took the train.
"T went up by way Of the Relay
House and the main line said Mr. Allen,
entirely oblvious Of what was going on
at the Ferry. When We came opposite
the Ferry on the Maryland side the
train was stopped. Then we learned
by rl1mor of the fighting at the Ferry.
We could hear all kinds of rumors and
the train from the West we had not
heard from. This was the train run by
Capt Jack Phelps, who was well known
here as one Of the lessees of the Alex
andria and Washington Railway. There
were only Is or 80 Of us on the train and
we remained on this side all night. We
heard during the night the movement
Of a train over the river and finally
Phelps train came over We then learned
that Browns men had stopped and held
the train for some hours, but that the
leader, when he was informed that the
United States mail was on the train,
allowed it to pass. We then learned
that in the fighting in the town some
had been killed and others wounded. Not
knowing what force the insurgents had
we did not cross the bridge but remained
or this side.
"'In the morning the marines arrived
from the barracks in this city and they
at once proceeded to put down the insur-
rection. A Capt. or 1t. Russell, be-
ieve, was in command and under his
orders the marines at once marched to
the engine house where Brown and
few Of his men were. AS we afterward
ascertained, the insurgents could have
killed every one of the marines had they
been so disposed, for they had arms and
ammunition and in the walls of the
engine house had been cut loopholes on
every side. The marines, finding the
door fastened, secured . ladder and
used it as q ram, bursting in the door.
1--WE, that is those Of the passengers
who had been pressed into service, hav-
ing seen this from the bridge at once
rushed down. remember that when I
first saw John Brown he was lying with
his head resting on the back of an up
turned chair. I looked at him and at
once recognized him rs . man I had
seen before: in fact had seen him only
q week or 10 days previously in Squire
Downs office. He had been wounded,
I believe iY, the shoulder but if he sl1f.
fered he did not show it in his counte-
nance or by word. He was attired in
what appeared to be country goods and
with his long, gray beard looked like q
well-to-do, care-for nothing farmer. I
was with him about three hours and .
half and heard enough to satisfy me that
he was . badly disappointed man and
that . force Of two to three hundred
men he had expected from Pennsyl.
vania had failed to materialise. In the
afternoon the bodies Of thoss Of Browns