The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1950-05-25
=. a-mouldering in
the tomb

an a-a-ass to speak for him too,"
stammering Owen Brown told an ac-
quaintance who cut in and tried to
help him get started on what he was
trying to say. Brown, Hudson,
Summit County, tanner, was sensitive
about his suffering and resented any
notice taken of it.
Owen Brown and his father before
him, then living in Torrington, Con-
necticut were fervent anti-slavers
and both brought up their children
in the same belief. Back in 1889
Owen Brown had taken part in the
forcible rescue of some slaves claim
ed by Virginia preacher in Con-
necticut.
Owen Brown was the father of
John Brown, "Of Osawatomie and
Harper's Ferry" and of the old
song: "Well hang John Brown on a
sour apple tree-Glory, Glory, Hallel-
ujah."
John Brown was born in Torring
ton May 9, 1900 and came with his
parents to Hudson, Ohio, when five
years old. Until 20, he worked in
his fathers tannery and at farming.
/ He then learned surveying and moved
to Randolph, Pennsylvania, where he
was postmaster under President
| Andrew Jackson. In 1886 he re-
turned to Ohio; removed to Massa-
chusetts in 1874; and in 1849 bought
farm and moved to New York.
Mixes in Anti-Slavery Affairs
In 1854 five of his sons moved
from Ohio to Osawatomie, Kansas,
and next year Brown joined them,
hoping to aid in the "Free State
Party" The Brown family was
mustered in as Kansas militia by
the Free State Party and were
actively engaged in the Kansas anti
slavery troubles co-incidental to the
Civil War.
John Browns father was a firm
believer in the hickory whip and ap-
piled it correctively on his children
at the slightest provocation. Johns
military strategy materialized early.
Tired of the boyhood whippings, he
went to the barn and loosened
plank in the haymow floor so that it
would give in when stepped on even
lightly.
1t was only next day when Owen
Brown took the recreant son to the
barn for chastisement for something
he had done.
The boy maneuvered his father
onto the loosened plank, took his
licking stoically, gave the customary
promise never to "do it again" then
jumped off his end of the balanced
loose plank. The old man went
through the haymow floor and lit
atop an upside-down halrow-and
every farmer boy knows what har-
row teeth are. Bruised and bunged
up for long time, he never men
toned the occurrance to his son, but
never took him to the barn or else
where for another whipping.
After marriage and becoming head
of a family of five, John Brown
bought a farm north of Hudson.
When the mortgage was about to be
foreclosed, he asked neighbor
named Chamberlain to bid it in,
which the farmer did. Brown then
requested to be allowed to remain
on the land a little while until he
found place where he could move.
Chamberlain agreed.
Barricades House
Time passed and Brown refused
to vacate. Evictment papers were
filed and officers turned him out of
the house When the constables had
gone, Brown went back in, barracad-
ed the house and armed his family
with shot guns. Repeatedly arrested
and sued, he responded to each sum-
mons but left his garrison in posses
sion OF the ola mouse.
Finally, on real or trumped up
charges, warrants were issued in
another township for Browns "gar-
rison" and while Brown himself was
under arrest, were served. With the
whole garrison gone, about so
friends of Chamberlain took posses
sion of the house, which had little
worth anyhow, and tore it down.
After that Brown engaged in wool
growing. Simon Perkins, Akron
capitalist, furnished the money ana
Brown put in the brains. He was as
enthusiastic over fine wool as he
later became over the wool on slaves
heads. But when the business closed
out, the share Brown had put in was
all that remained.
Harper's Ferry Illusion
John Browns belief that with a
handful of men he could take Harp
er's Ferry and overthrow the insti-
tuition of slavery came out of pre-
natal influence and the mental stress
over his experiences in Kansas.
His faith was equal to that of the
Hebrew prophets and Brown actually
believed that with few poorly arm
ed men he could conquer the South
and free the slaves. Jehovah had
SO ordered it and had commissioned
him to do the work. 1t was just to