WARS 07 THB WESTERN BORDER OB, NEW HOMES AND A STRANGE PEOPLE. BY G. DOUGLAS BREWERTON, AUTHOR OF " A RIDE WITH KIT OARSON," " OAMP FIRE YARNS," ETC. JSEW YORK: DERBY runk-in-a-Blanket — Indian Eccentricities — Major Ramrod's Adventure — Beauty unadorned — Outraged Diffidence — Hard to Swallow — Ducking a Baby — Crying Babies, 114 CHAPTER XII. NEWS-HUNTING IN WESTPORT. Kit Carson — Aubrey — Secret Military Organization — The Sheriff's Invitation — The Lion of the Evening, • 122 CHAPTER XIII. WE JOURNEY TO LECOMPTON. Good-bye to" Westport— The Solitary Grave— Snow-clad Prairies— Bean's Hotel — Franklin— Interesting to Emigrants— Facts and Figures— The Promised Land — Lecompton — New Friends, 127 CHAPTER XIV. HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. Threatenings— A Late Visitor— Shooting at a Doctor — The Guarded House— A Deplor- able Transaction— The Barber Homicide— Major Clarke's Statement, . . . 187 CONTENTS. is CHAPTER XV. THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE AT SHAWNEE MISSION. PAGE The Gubernatorial Mansion — Most Particularly Democratic— The Secretary of State — Judge Lynch's Court-house — The Origin of the Bowie-knife, 144 CHAPTER XVI. THE PRO-SLAVERY SIDE OF THE KANSAS WAR. Growing Serious— Hickory Point Difficulties— Buckley's Affidavit — Hargis's Affidavit — Hargis's Affidavit Continued — Irritating Causes — Sheriff Jones' Affidavit — Sheriff Jones' Affidavit Continued — John P. Wood's Statement — The Absentee, . . . 149 CHAPTER XVII. GOVERNOR SHANNON'S HISTORY OF THE WAKARUSA WAR. A Modest Request — Three Thousand against Forty — An Unorganized Militia — The Gathering of the Clans — Shannon's Call to Arms — Shannon's Army Outnumbered, . 159 CHAPTER XVIII. CONTAINS A DIGRESSION BY THE GOVERNOR. Why Missouri Crossed the Border— Governor Shannon's Policy— A very Irish Gentle- man—The Fire-eaters— A bad Position at the Best— The Ship of State — Warlike Preparations — Shannon Telegraphs the President — Colonel Sumner Makes a Sug- gestion — Shannon Adopts the Suggestion — Instructions to Sheriff Jones — Richard- son and Jones— The President Promises Aid— A Crisis is at Hand— The Crisis gets Nearer, . . . . . . „ .165 CHAPTER XIX. THE GOVERNOR CONTINUES HIS NARRATIVE. Shannon is off to the War — Shannon in the Camp — Shannon has Two Objects — Shannon's Army Will Not be Restrained — Shannon Outwits his Men — The Black Flag — Shannon Enters Lawrence — Moments are Hours — The Besieged Won't Sur- render — Shannon as a Peace-maker — Orders from Head-quarters, .... 180 CHAPTER XX. GOVERNOR'S NARRATIVI CONTINUED — THE TREATY. Things Look Badly — Everybody Satisfied and Nobody Pleased — Shannon Concludes a Treaty — Shannon Disbands his Army — Exeunt Omnes— Shannon Assisted by the Elements — Shannon Signs a Certain Paper— We ask an Explanation— Shannon Explains— Why we Asked— Two Good Reasons— Our Correspondent's Christmas, . 191 CHAPTER XXI. CHRISTMAS IN KANSAS. Seasonable — A Mysterious Epistle— Happy Children— The Ghost of Christmas Past — A Political Dialogue — A Negro Standard Bearer— A Body-guard of Slaves— Kansas Emigration from the South— Colonel Buford's scheme — Judge Cato on the Territory — Religious and Unexceptionable — E. B. Bell and Ho for Kansas !— A Slight Mistake —Shooting the Wrong Man . ........ .203 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXII. LIFE AT THE MISSION. PAGE An Odd Fish— The Preliminary horn— Making an Effort — The Eastern Mail— A Kansas Night-mare — Our Funny Little Friend, 217 CHAPTER XXIII. COLEMAN'S NARRATIVE. A Visit from Coleman — Coleman Settles at Hickory Point — Coleman Quarrels with Branson— White's Cabin Burnt— Branson and Dow Threaten Coleman— Coleman Driven from his Claim — Coleman Arms Himself— Coleman Kills Dow — Coleman Gives Himself Up — Coleman Declines Being a Justice, 223 CHAPTER XXIV. FOR LAWRENCE DIRECT. Our Over-dressed Companion — The old Priest — The Silent Blessing — Bad News for the Major — An Attempt to fire Clarke's Dwelling— Lynch Law Threatened — For Dream- land Direct, 233 CHAPTER XXV. NEW TEAR'S EVE BY A LOG-CABIN HEARTH. New Year's Eve in the Wilderness — A Sweet Sunshiny Face — Pen-and-ink Portraits — The Resigned Lieutenant — Political Advice Gratis — The Jolly Man's Story — An Anec- dote of Aaron Burr — A Western Amazon — Killing at Both Ends — Ole Man Parson's fightr-Getting Even by a Double Entry, 240 CHAPTER XXVI. OUR NEW TEAR'S CALL. New Year's Day — Falling Weather — Down and Laughed at — A Grocery Group — We Show our Breeding — A Free-State Settler's Home — A New-England Wife and Baby — Less Talk and More Work — The Cincinnati House — Our Landladies — Miss Char- ity — Long Sweetening, 251 CHAPTER XXVII. THE BALL. A Political Free and Easy — The Free-State Executives — Frontier Full Dress — A Kan- sas Ball Room— Playing on the Wash-board, 268 CHAPTER XXVIII. THE HEROINES OF THE WAR. The Fat One enters — A Chat with the Ladies — The Free-State Heroine — Bustling Times — A Killing Petticoat-Loaded to Go Off— Old Sally and Her Driver— Swelled Out Awful, 26S CHAPTER XXIX. THE FREE-STATE SIDE OF THE QUESTION. We Define our Position— Truth and Brevity— The Main Points— Seven in a Bed— A Rough and Tumble Set— Bercaw's Free-State Statement— The Hickory Point Resolu- CONTENTS. Xi tions — A Good and Fair Christian— A Touch of the Brogue — Nullifiers, Scamps, and Rottens — Bowie-knives, Pistols, and Whisky — Missouri at the Kansas Polls — The Romuluses of Kansas — The so-called Bogus Legislature— So Mote it be— The Two Who Didn't Fight— Pawnee, 276 CHAPTER XXX. THE FREE-STATE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. From the Very Best Authority — A Free-State History of the War— General Robinson Counsels Prudence — The Free-State Kansas Volunteers — The Free-Soilers Seek Aid — The Governor Smiles upon Lawrence — Missouri is Satisfied without Fighting — Shannon Meets the Ladies — General Robinson Consents — Robinson is Lionized, . 29S CHAPTER XXXI. THE HEROES OF THE WAR. A Brilliant Incident of the War — Major Blank of the Free-State Volunteers — Yankee Wit versus Missouri Sagacity — The Stranger Steps in to Drink — Yankee Wit in a Fix — The Border Ruffians Help Yankee Wit — Yankee Wit is Much Obliged — A * Darned Mean Yankee Trick — Mr. Miller's Free-State Statement — What Sharpe's Rifles Cost in Lawrence, . . . . . . 308 CHAPTER XXXII. HIS HONOR JUDGE PORTLY. A Prairie Home — An Impromptu Journey — Squire Portly and his Dame — That Peart Gal Wetumpky — The Missourians Prescribe Hanging — Squire Portly gets the Heaves— The Shooting of Thomas W. Barber — Robert F. Barber's Statement — Bar- ber's Last Words— The flight, . . . .313 CHAPTER XXXin. A VISIT TO THE WIDOW BARBER. A Sudden and Tranquil Departure — By Whom Was He Killed? — Doctor Squilh enjines Takin' Kear — Peirson's Account of the Fight — He is Dead — The Desolated Home— A Sincere Mourner— The Only Victim of the War — A Heart-rending Scene, 823 CHAPTER XXXIV. A SNOWY NIGHT IN A SETTLER'S CABIN. A Rather Dangerous Excursion — Captain Jack Quarter — Blowing Great Guns — Boots and all — A Blessed Apparition — Our Blue Umbrella Tent — Gracias a Dios, CHAPTER XXXV. FREE-STATE FACTS. General James H. Lane — The Brigadier's Antecedents — Lucky Lane — Kansas Scrip — The Free-State Propagandists — A Kansas Volunteer's Commission — A Kansai Volunteer's Discharge — 0, Deary Me ! — The Rival Tickets — Loaves and Fishes — So Endeth the Circular Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXVI. THK SEBASTOPOL OF THE WEST. PAS* Lawrence and its Defences— What is and is to be— The Eldridge House— Shoot but take Good Aim— An Arkansas Yarn— Pine Knot Jake— A Very Pressing Invitation —The Bully Seems to Triumph— The Tables Turned— Mr. Chowler Favors the Com- pany—The Borderer Backs Down— The Gambling Man— The Screamer No. 3, . 360 CHAPTER XXXVn. LAWRENCE IN A MILITARY POINT OF VIEW. Can Lawrence be Taken — The Bluff near Lawrence — Military Engineering— Sheriff Jones a Good Samaritan— Later from the Seat of War— What may be — The Free- State Leaders to the President — By Order of the President — Marcy to Shannon — Instructions to Colonels Sumner and Cooke — Jefferson Davis to Governor Shannon — From the Governor of Indiana— Sensible and to the Point — Highly Creditable to its Author — A Trifling Mistake Somewhere — The First Legislature of Kansas — Official List of the Members— Citizenship of the Bogus Legislature, 363 CHAPTER XXXVIIL FREE-STATE ODDS AND ENDS. Lawrence by Comparison — A Pro-Slavery Squatter's Claim — The Free-Soilers' Loca- tion — Free-State Amusements — We Determine to Leave Kansas — A Free-Soil Meet- ing—The Circumstance — Adding Insult to Injury — A Pro-Slavery Notice to Quit — What's in the Wind? — Newspapers in Kansas — Kickapoo Volunteers, . . .881 CHAPTER XXXIX. LAST LINES. A Barnum, but no Humbug — What Kansas Needs — Barking but not Biting Dogs — A Lunatic Asylum for Demagogues— The Border Ruffian's Better Half— Rough but no Ruffian — The Momentous Question, 398 CHAPTER I. ' OFF TO THE WAR. Tuesday, December 4th, 1855. — Ding — dong — ding, three o'clock by old Trinity — it rang out just as we turned into the Broadway artery of that human tide which is ever flowing through our great metropolis — three by the wintry sun — three by the Banks — three by old Trinity — and as we listened to the tones of that iron tongue, which marks the burial of the dead hours — far above the roar of Wall-street Bulls and Bears, not To mention the clatter of conflicting omnibuses — we fell into a meditative mood, and paced the sloppy pavements leisurely. Of what we were thinking upon that memorable afternoon, we are not at this particular moment prepared to state : but certain it is that our mental train met with an obstacle, and ran off the track instanter, to the great detriment, not to say destruction, of some four-score promising " castles in the air," exploded by the collision. And the obstacle ? most gentle reader — was a Newsboy — who had startled our ears with the curt announcement of 14 THE SECOND " EDISHUN." " Here 's the New York 'Erald — second edishun — got the Great War in Kansas." The " Great War in Kansas ?" what could it mean ? We had heard of the " Dorr War," the " Anti-Rent War," the "Erie Pea-nut War," and even i of that stirring strife of which the poet has so beautifully sung, " SEBASTOPOL AIN'T TAKEN YET, Pop goes the Weasel." But the Kansas War — that was something new ! So we slackened our pace, pondered for a moment, got our mental locomotive on the track again, was " struck with an idea," but without receiving any material injury, and then halted outright, and whistled up the Newsboy, who straightway answered to the call, in the shape of a diminutive young biped, with a frosty nose, a very shrill voice, and a pair of patent ventilating panta- loons, which exhibited a suspicion of dingy-colored linen in their rear. Add to these, a huge bundle of papers under the left arm, and a brace of "specimen numbers" in the extended right hand, and you have a sketch " from the life," done at sight, of that very nondescript animal — a New York Newsboy. " Here 's the 'Erald, sir — second edishun," squeaked the shrill voice. We satisfied ourself that there was something from Kansas (for we want confidence in the whole race of Newsboys — the patent-improved sort not excepted), and then, in the agitation of the moment, disbursed half a dime, at the same time grasping a paper, without asking for the change. When we recovered ourself, the vender of recent intelligence had vanished like a the- atrical ghost ; the dirty linen aforesaid, being the last object visible as he shot round a neighboring corner. And now for the hews, was our mental ejaculation ; for if there be no compensation in the " second edishun," we are minus A SUDDEN RESOLUTION. 15 five cents, federal currency, and. grossly deceived to boot. So we turned down the paper, found the " very latest by telegraph," pressed our beaver more firmly upon our brow, and then re- treated from the vortex of a jostling crowd into the shelter of a friendly doorway, to read, in greater quietness, the following paragraph : — "BY TELEGRAPH. " Call from the Governor for United States Troops. "St. Louis, Bee. 3, 1855. " Accounts from Kansas state that Governor Shannon has telegraphed to the President, concerning the present condition of affairs in that Terri- tory. He says that one thousand men have arrived in Lawrence, and res- cued a prisoner from the sheriff of Douglas County, and burned some houses and other property. He asks the President to order out the troops at Fort Leavenworth, to aid in the execution of the laws. "Dispatches from Weston arrived here to-day by express, bringing startling news from Atchinson. Some Free State officers had taken pos- session of important papers, and an attack upon Atchinson was anticipated. A messenger had been sent to Weston for fifty armed men." We read no more, but turned upon our heel and rammed the " second edishun w into our great-coat pocket, with an emphasis which bespoke a determination on our part to do "something energetic, and that soon." And it was even so, for in that instant of time we had made up our minds to go to Kansas, partly because we wished to see the row, not as through a glass, darkly (meaning the medium of printers' ink), but with our own unspectacled eyes — yea, even as the Big Spring Free State Dele- gate Convention expresses it — " to a bloody issue," but most of all because we wanted a change — the comforts of civilization had begun to weary us — we longed for a rougher life — for Prairie air and Border freedom ; in a word, to sum our case up briefly, we didn't know when we were well off, and pined for an alteration for the worse. M Westward ho !" cried our first impulse, and we yielded — of course we did — for we always 16 WAYS AND MEANS. make it a point, unless we can't "help ourself, to " treat our incli- nations." Yes, we confess it, for, like Tony Lumpkin, of " the Three Jolly Pigeons " notoriety, although we might have disap- pointed the dear public, and spared the book-stalls the infliction of a new volume on Kansas — nay, have even most respectfully declined to play historian to the far-famed Wakarusa war — we " couldn't bear to disappoint ourself." But how to go ? ah 1 there was the rub. It costs money to travel, and we, alas ! so far as temporal goods are concerned, suffer but little from taxation. It requires time, too (unless, indeed, as the Irishman expressed it, a one could verify the revolu- tion of the earth by sitting down upon the ground, and letting the " counthries " come round to him in succession), and time, in this waking world, is money. So it was with a purpose that we turned our hasty steps towards the office of the New York Herald, for we had a pecuniary problem to cipher out, and the prime minister of the " Satanic Press" was just the man to lay down its premises. What wonder then that fifteen minutes' time found us in the editorial sanctum sanctorum of Bennett's paper — where with Mr. H , its senior editor (in big whiskers and an arm-chair), for a vis-a-vis, we proceeded to unfold our wishes and set forth our very modest expectations. We thought there would be "wars and rumors of wars " in Kansn- The Herald got all the news — the Herald must there- for oe posted upon Kansas — ergo, the Herald would require a correspondent — a special one, in those far regions. And a " War Correspondent" to boot. And who (we diffidently inquired), was better fitted for this arduous position than ourself ? Had we not scribbled for the Herald, written articles for Harper, and moreover been " a man-of-war," while in the service of that stingy old curmudgeon — Uncle Sam. In view of all these cir- cumstances, we made bold to talk up our stock, clinching the whole with the insinuation, that the New York Herald might AN INTERVIEW WITH THE HERALD. IT do itself an injustice, by not ordering us to Kansas instanter. In fine, we retired at the expiration of a fifteen minutes' interview, with the blessed assurance that Mr. H would take the matter into consideration, and give us a final answer upon the morrow — at noon. We will spare you a recital of the astonishment with which our friends received the intelligence that we might start next day for Kansas— to be gone for an indefinite length of time — suffice it to say that we " attended to our sleeping " that night, for it seemed just possible that it might be our last chance in bed before reaching a frontier log-cabin. High noon of December the 5th found us again closeted with Mr. H of the Herald. He " didn't think the war would amount to much — he regarded it as a move to make political capital for Whitfield or Reeder at Washington. In short he believed the whole affair to be a 1 Barnum ' — alias humbug, of the most unmitigated kind. Here was a pretty state of things — if Mr. H didn't believe in the war, it would be no go with us — so we set to work, with a will, to correct these very erroneous impressions. Well, we argued the matter pro and con, and Mr. H finally asked us to reduce the thing to figures, by saying, " How much ?" " We mentioned a sum — it was satisfactory." " When will you start ?" 41 By the first conveyance." " When can you get there ?" " As soon or sooner than the mail." " Yery well ; this letter will accredit you as our correspondent. Here Mr. H sat down and wrote us the following : "Herald Office, New York, Dec. 5, 1855. "My Dear Sir: If circumstances permit, I would like to have you leave this afternoon for Kansas Territory, to act as the correspondent of the New 18 ITS RESULT. York Herald. In addition to the important political events that may take place, and of which you will furnish us with the particulars, I would sug- gest that you send us full information of the agricultural and industrial progress of the new territory and people. I shall hope to hear from you in a week or ten days. Very truly yours, F H- for James G. Bennett. G. Douglas Brewerton, Esq.' 1 '' In addition to this "letter of instructions," we were kindly provided by a very popular Ex-Senator, with a brace of introductory epistles to the " distinguished consideration * of Governor Shannon and Senator Atchinson. By this time the. advent of one o'clock reminded us that Time and steamboats wait for no man, and that if we meant to leave that evening we had better be going. So we made our adieu to the ministering angels (?) of the Herald, with many a hearty prayer (not to mention some expressions of incredulity), as touching our safe return ; and then went forth to make the necessary prepara- tions for a trip to the seat of war in Kansas. And now as we can't plead the old-fashioned apology " excuse haste and a bad pen " — we will simply beg your mercy, if want of space should jolt our style into the Doe-sticks or railroad order. En avant ! then, let us progress — even though it be at high-pressure speed — so follow us, good people, if you can. We plunged into Broadway — met a shop with flaring glass windows — be-lettered from top to toe in many hued-capitals, setting forth the names of cities and places to an extent which might have induced the bewildered spectator to hazard a sup- position that the "man inside" must have begun his travels at an early age, and kept on until he had mastered the geography,, got over the maps, and bothered the terrestrial globes. We " limbered up M accordingly, and straightway concluded that if HATCHET FACE. the proprietor of this establishment didn't sell tickets to St. Louis, which (as everybody ought to know) is the first long step to Kansas, nobody else did ; so we dived in — violated the sanc- tity of the railed pen-marked " no admittance behind the coun- ter" — met a hatchet-faced man^with keen eyes, a faint mous- tache and consumptive-looking whiskers to match — told hatchet- fated man that we wanted to go to St. Louis, and required information — found hatchet-faced man polite, with a very glib tongue, or. as Samuel Weller, senior, of the " Belle Sauvage," would have expressed it — with " the gift of the gab werry gal- loping." Indeed, we had barely intimated that we wanted to go West, when he opened his mouth, and out came such a Niagara of words, that we were fairly swept away by the torrent, and listened patiently per force; for, in less time than it takes to write it, Hatchet Face had put us in possession of all the " favo- rable facts" connected with five septrate lines, or thereabouts, for which he was the sole agent ; and, strange to relate, (if Hatchet Face spoke the truth ; and being a railroad agent, he could by no means have done otherwise), these five different and differing lines had each and all one most uncommon simi- larity, inasmuch as there was no one of them that didn't save the traveller who had the good fortune to pursue that particu- lar route, a "mint of money," — " without possibility of colli- sion," or " missing of connections," and put him through in " five hours less time than by any other track," with fewer changes of cars, and (as a Scottish landlord says when the bill of fare is exhausted), just anything else you please. In fine, we never knew before, or since, how delightfully easy it had become to travel westward ; we even found ourself embarrassed by the multiplicity of advantages, until in our perplexity we had almost determined upon putting all the lines — no — their " prospectuses" we mean — into our hat, and taking the first drawn out at a ven- 20 UP THE RIVER. ture. So, trusting to luck, we said " The Suspension Bridge and Canada, via Detroit, and the Illinois Central" — paid our money, receiving, as a " certificate of deposit," a little package of tickets curiously stamped, countersigned and hung together, and withal so wondrously enveloped that the whole affair resembled a diminutive billet-doux. Being thus accredited to the road, we shot out of the office, bade Hatchet Face a hasty adieu, and wended our way to Bolen's, where we purchased pow- der, caps, and balls ; then stationery — quite a wholesale lot — was to be procured ; and finally we discussed the relative merits of divers and sundry carpet bags with a shrewd old Yankee, who took our measure at a glance, and suited us with an article which we will make bold to say has held more manuscript than any other single specimen of all its leathern kith and kin. Ding, dong, ding — three o'clock again — we " broke like a quarter-horse " for our residence in Brooklyn, where we spent the hours until five P. M. in packing up, bidding good-bye, and writing "last lines" generally. Six P. M. found us on board one of those " floating palaces" (when they are clean), a North River steamboat, and fairly under weigh. Nine hours through the dark water, cleaving our way beneath the giant shadows of the dusky hills that walled in our steamer's trackless path, brought us to that most unromantic of all com- monplace localities, the Albany dock; then came a hotel, sought out amid the darkness of a gloomy winter's morning ; and then a breakfast, served up with all that overplus of hospitality which is only to be had at so much per day — a meal, to be eaten in haste, with your loins girded, which in our case meant an overcoat and a many-hued worsted comforter. And then we sallied forth to view the railroad train for Buffalo, and pick out the passenger-car next to the last, in which (as we had been caught in a railroad smash up before), we selected a seat which railroad moralizing. 21 seemed safer than the rest ; that is to say, it was " convenient" to the door, with a window opposite, which might be kicked out at short notice upon an emergency. And permit us to inform you, friend reader, as we go, that there is — accidents excepted — a deal of fun in railroading it. For, if we remember aright, it was Mr. Pope, or some other behind-the-age worthy, who declared that, " The proper study of mankind is man." Now had Mr. Pope known human nature ^better, he would have recommended woman. But if man — or for that matter, woman either — be the prescribed course, and mankind the pupil, we can suggest no better school than a first-class passenger-car ; for there is to us something really refreshing in the frankness with which the genus homo throws off even the affectation of unselfish- ness when he leaves his own peculiar orbit to traverse the public highway. It is so easy, too, to classify the bipeds around you. There is the nervous man, who shivers at every blast of the steam-whistle, and hears an M awful catastrophe " in the rush of an approach- ing train, which never fails to conjure up a vision of broken legs and arms, and, it may be, a coroner's inquest in the pros- pective. To this class we belong — for, in this respect, we are a person of terrible experiences. Then comes the obdurate man — he of the mulish temperament, who has " paid for his rights, and means to get 'em "-; who would see a woman " in that extremity " first, and her baby to boot, before he would budge either his precious body or his almost equally valuable valise. And then, there's the jolly man — your thorough-bred, gay, devil-may-care sort of fellow — funny by profession, and happy by habit — one of those deuced clever chaps, who would crack his joke at your nearest relative's funeral, just by way of " keep- ing up your spirits," or recommend " lemon-aid" to the young 22 THE CANADA SIDE. lady who sits beside him at table, as a recompense hi full for having spoiled her new pattern dress — the only one of its kind — by upsetting his soup into her lap. And then there's — but we must stop moralizing, or we shall never get to Kansas. So let us shift the scene to the Niagara Suspension Bridge — Canada side — where we arrived about nine o'clock on the evening of the 6th. Here we were detained, while waiting for the departure of the Detroit train, which did not go out until some two hours later. But on reviewing our note-book, we natter ourself that we must have improved our time ; for our adventures — or rather those of our neighbors — while sojourning at Suspension Bridge, were " considerable if not more so." But they shall speak for themselves. Upon leaving the cars we wended our way into the dingy (at least by night-light) depot, and finally penetrated to the yet more comfortless eating-room, where a dirty-looking supper stood waiting for customers at fifty cents per head. Here we sought, but searched in vain, for an unappropriated seat ; for though vacant chairs were plentiful, and likely to continue so, they were ranged for possible occupation about the supper aforesaid. But had we entertained any doubt upon this head, it would have been dispelled by the information which was tendered us " free gratis " by an officious waiter (in dirty slippers, and a dilapidated apron), to the effect that "if we didn't want to eat we mustn't move the chairs." So we were fain to wander forth from this inhospitable apartment into a crowded antechamber, warmed by an enormous stove (our particular abomination), and fairly reeking with filthy odors — those of frying tobacco-juice and half- smoked cigars predominating. As we edged our way through the throng, to get a little fresh air, our attention was attracted by a half-intoxicated enthusi- ast (a very " Hinglish " individual, by-the-way, in a rough top- coat, with an upper finish of Canadian fur-cap), who was amus- A DRUNKEN ORATOR. 23 ing his auditors by an ultra free-soil harangue, which he deliv- ered in a somewhat boisterous, $ot to say incendiary, style. The following specimen will serve as an exponent of this ora- tion : " Gentlemen, we may be thankful, hold Hingland may be proud hof 'er provinces. Yes, we hopens hour harms to the hoppressed (hie). The miserable Hafrican (hie) flies from the American lash (hie) and finds a refuge in this hour (hie) land hof real hand huniversal liberty (hie)." Here the speaker paused, and throwing himself into an atti- tude, gazed round him with a drunken gravity, which seemed to say, " I wait for a reply ;" and verily the answer was at hand, for it came instanter, butt-end foremost, in the shape of an ex- cited Southerner, who had likewise been indulging too freely in the " extract of the corn." " Stranger I" said the new-comer — a very raw-boned gentle- man, in unmistakably home-made clothes — " Stranger ! yeou're a dog-gaun fool." We will draw a veil over the wordy war which succeeded this most unceremonious interruption. Suffice it to say, that it was ridiculous in the extreme. But as the disputants waxed wroth, and their conversation grew more decidedly personal, we wearied of their wrangling, and escaped to the comparative quiet of the cars "going West," which were still stationary, but now rapidly filling up. Here, at least, thought we, we shall hear nothing more sonorous than the long-drawn snore of some indigestion- haunted sleeper. But we " counted without our host," for we had not yet " got shet " (as the Missourians say) of the " nig- ger question." In fact, we had barely composed ourself for a traveller's nap, when an impertinent darkey came sauntering through the car, where he ordered about the passengers, and attempted to arrange their seats with such scanty ceremony, that the exhibition of his " little brief authority " — if authority 24 YANKEE VERSUS DARKEY. it was — called forth some very energetic remonstrances from those whom he attempted toSddress. Among others, a choleric old Yankee, with a perfect sign- board of a nose, broke out thus : " What under the canopy do yeu mean ? By thunder, I guess yeu own this train ; jest tell us, will yeu, if yeou're a regular nigger, or have there been so many accidents on this road that the company thought best to put the conductors in mourning, and ordered you painted black accordingly ?" To this "call for information," the irate darkey returned no particular reply, beyond a general statement to the effect, that in Canada " all men were born free and equal/' or, in other words, that a white man might be as good as a nigger, if he chose to exert himself. Now all this might have passed off un- noticed, if our darkey, in the bitterness of his heart, had not fin- ished his remarks by requesting his interrogator to proceed to the " unmentionable to ears polite," with all convenient speed. This was too much — the Yankee's blood was up — he grasped the poker — and we really believe that if the affrighted Atrican had not vanished from the cars, without even a hesitation by the way, that poker would have " played Hail Columbia " (as our Yankee expressed it), upon his thick-skulled pate ; but he de- parted ere his fate could " Point a moral or adorn a tale." and then as the train rolled out, the pugnacious Yankee thrust his huge paw into a great-coat pocket, and produced a worsted night-cap, whose hue rivalled the scarlet of its owner's " sign- board of a nose," with which he forthwith proceeded to envelop his head ; but in so comical a manner, that the tassel vibrated like a pendulum above the wearer's left eye, while the sympa- thetic optic kept winking and blinking as it moved. To com- THE REO-NOSED MAN, plete his preparations, our Yankee then turned over the seat back in front of him, so as to secure a very unfair share of body room ; and then, with his short legs elevated upon a cushion, and his night-capped head propped snugly against the window- blind, he settled himself to a slumber which we envied, but tried in vain to imitate. 2 DALAiSOh AlA.. CHAPTER II. INCIDENTS BY THE WAY. Oh, what a dreary thing is night travel upon a railroad — whiz — bang — jounce — a yell that might wake the dead — fifteen miles an hour — shake — shake — shake — balance all — thirty miles an hour — everything dancing — nervous old maid opposite in fits — stout gentleman vibrates up and down, as if his understanding was worked by springs — carpet-bags come jostling from their racks. " Got a cinder in your eye, sir V* "Yes, dern the cin- der." " Blow your nose, then, and pull down the eyelid." " How the deuce am I to blow my nose, sir, when it 's almost knocked off by that last jump of this infernal car ?" Bang — crack — yell — forty miles an hour. Shu — shu — shu — shuing growing fainter — you are getting drowsy — shuing ceases — you have just dropped off — sudden shock — somebody shakes your elbow — you start from your re- cumbent posture, and rub your bewildered optics — an uncom- promising looking personage stands before you — you regard his coat, and the idea of a police-officer suggests itself — you con- template his legs, and believe him to be an out-door clerk — your eye wanders upward to his cap, and you discover your mistake — for the man is labelled like a medicine, which might be taken by mistake — yes, the. magic word " Conductor" is fairly writ in characters of gold upon his hat-band, so that he who runs may THE NIGHT-TRAIN. 27 read, even at the rate of forty miles per hour. He is a man of few words withal, who knows you not as Governor A, or Gene- ral B, the gentleman who has written a book and figured in the newspapers, but simply as the man in the brown coat, who is going so many miles, and must, therefore, pay the sum indicated by the Company's fare-table. Like poor Poe's raven, he has but one reiterated cry — 't is " ticket, sir," and " Nothing more." You draw down your beaver to shield your visual organs from the glare of the lantern, with which this implacable omcia 1 is throwing some light upon your tickets (as he nips another, hole, the sixth since you started, in them, with the little patent j shoemaker's pincers which he carries in his right hand), or, it may be, is aiding the suspicious inspection of the circulating me- dium, which, in the innocence of your heart, you took confidingly from his brother employee, upon the " down train." You pay your money, and receive an oblong piece of paste-board, marked " Good to Blank, for this trip only," on one side, and labelled with the names of places which you never heard of, and dis- tances that you don't believe in, upon the other. You conclude your business with the conductor, and sink back into your place, I where you strive in vain to compose yourself, but it won't do, for you are now thoroughly " waked up," and must wrestle fruitlessly with the drowsy god, who will not stay to bless you, until a brace of squeals from the locomotive, followed by a sud- den application of the brakes, brings the train gradually to a halt, when the coldest door is thrown open, and a "gruff voice" looks in, with the cry of " Squashtown — train stops twenty min- utes for refreshments." You are hungry and athirst ; you are i young and inexperienced ; you antieipate great things from Squashtown ; you follow the crowd of half-famished bipeds, who rush out into the bleak night air ; you step upon the icy platform ; 28 SQUASHTOWN. your heels go up and your head down ; you have a free ticket to the fireworks, you recover yourself, and begin to realize that you are a "stranger in a strange country," to which you may shortly add, " and they took me in." You look about you, are blinded by the glare of unexpected lights in extraordinary places, and almost deafened by the tintinnabulations of vociferous din- ner-bells, which are being frantically rung by anxious-looking landlords, who stand shivering before the entrances of various rival man-traps, marked " Refreshment Saloons." You still fol- low the crowd, you approach one of these competing establish- ments, you believe in the sign-board, you allow yourself to be humbugged, you enter with the throng, you sit down, or more frequently stand up, to a long table, or greasy counter, well covered with crockery, consisting of plates, containing a diminu- tive triangle of waxy, cold apple-pie each, pitchers of milk, and .sugar-bowls, which suggest strange doubts as to the possibility of obtaining water in the Squashtown vicinity. There are cups too, that can be filled with a compound, styled coffee, at a York shilling per cup. You don't like cold apple-pie at mid- night, but you will take coffee ; a distracted waiter hears, and at length pays attention to your demand ; the coffee is produced ; did you observe that he served you with the dirty cup, which has just been emptied by your neighbor on the left ? You didn't ? Well, never mind ; but we will make our affidavit that you got something more than " sugar and cream " for one. Here comes your coffee, scalding hot ; don't like it, hey ? burnt your mouth, may-be ? " Why, waiter, I say, this isn't coffee, it's more like burnt peas ; give us a cup of tea." " Tea, sir ? yes, sir ! one shilling, sir I thank you, sir 1" But the advent of the tea is marked by a yell of warning from the locomotive, a cry of " all aboard," and an exeunt omnes from your fellow-pas- sengers. You " follow suit," perforce, and resume your seat, a " sadder, if not a wiser man," for you are minus a quarter for ALTON AND ST. LOUIS. 29 "refreshments," and plus — the vexation of being imposed upon. « And so you go rushing along, with a shriek and a roar, across the night-shrouded landscape, waking the echoes of the frown- ing hills, and startling the slumberers in way-side bed-cham- bers, as the iron horse, with his great red eyes and iron sinews, drags on his quivering load — " faster — faster — faster." The morning of the Tth found us in safety at Detroit, from whence we journeyed onward through chilly Michigan, until a "cut off" by rail brought us to the Illinois Central Railroad ; here we changed cars, and traversed the last-mentioned State, under the heavy disadvantages (so far as scenery was con- cerned), of a wet, dismal, sloppy day, with a stormy sky above, and a boggy, rain-drenched prairie below. What wonder then that we " blessed our stars" when it " cleared up cold," just as we were approaching the town of Alton, where the passenger for St. Louis shifts himself from the rattling train, to embark upon a wheezy, snorting, broken-winded steamboat, which labors on, in a succession of convulsive jerks, until you " tie up " beside the levee at St. Louis. As speed was everything, for, we wanted, if possible, to over- take the Kansas War, we did not intend to tarry in St. Louis, but " man proposes," and the facilities for travelling in Missouri " disposes," as the French proverb, does not say. So, after char- tering a boy, and lugging ourself through the mud to the Pacific Railroad depot, we found that it did not connect, and until the morrow nothing else did. Now this was bad enough, but it couldn't be helped, and we were therefore fain to put up at the u Planters," a good house once, that is to say eight years ago, since when it has bravely gotten over it. Here our first care was to descend to an office on the ground floor, situated in one corner of the building, where you can buy tickets to go almost anywhere beneath "the glimpses of the 30 SMASHUP & CO. moon," a second edition, in short, of our hatched-faeed friends' in Broadway. Bat our business was no longer with railroad men ; we had got, alas ! to the " end of our tether," in that respect. We must now travel by stage, or not at all. It was therefore to find out a representative of the firm of Smashup, Breakdown & Co., stage-agents and proprietors, that we entered the "Planters" subterranean, and would that we had never found them, or, having found them, had never trusted ourself to their tender mercies. Hear us then, good travellers — hearken, we pray, and beware how you enter their office, (under the "Planters" in St. Louis), unless, indeed, you should be tired of iliis life, or, being obese, desire to be reduced in flesh. But listen to the facts, for we were most egregiously " done" and if Smashup, Breakdown & Company are not entitled to a 11 first- rate notice," we don't know who are — so here goes. It was on the evening of Saturday, Dec. 8th, that we entered their taking-in-trap for unsuspecting travellers — we saw Smashup — we intimated that we were a newspaper correspondent, who wanted, not a "free ticket," but reliable information as to the best and quickest route to the Kansas frontier. We were informed that the road to a certain place, which shall be name- less, was not more beguiling, nor more easily to be traversed than theirs from St. Louis to Fort Leavenworth — always sup- posing the pilgrim to have a through ticket from Smashup — we believed Smashup — we trusted him — Smashup was a man with iron-grey hair — or an approximation to it — he looked amiable — had a Christian expression of countenance — we would have lent Smashup five dollars (if we had it), on his face alone. In short, we let Smashup take us in. We asked the price of a ticket to Fort Leavenworth ? the answer (given in a most insinuating tone of voice), was only twenty-eight dollars — the distance is about three hundred and twenty miles, and the sum mentioned is exactly what our through ticket cost us from New DOING A TRAVELLER. 31 York to St. Louis, Mo. M But," said the amiable Smashup, " as you are a representative of the press, we must do something, so We will only charge you twenty-five dollars — in fact, sir," added the agent, with generous warmth — " we will make an exception, and deduct three dollars." Feeling that twenty-five dollars was quite enough, we made no objection, the more so as the Company charges only fifteen dollars for the return trip, over the same road. We accordingly disbursed the pecuniary con- sideration, and received in return a homoeopathic card, whose inscription ran thus : "Stage ticket— good for this trip only, from St. Charles, (distant eighteen miles by railroad from St. Louis), to Fort Leavenworth. December 10th, 1855. S. S. Blank, agent." u But what kind of stages are we to have, Mr. Smashup ?" " Good stages, sir, and careful drivers." " And the time ?" "We run "night and day, and will put you through in four days from the date of your ticket. The omnibus will call for you on Monday morning. That will be your first chance to go." As we have said before, we believed in Smashup, so we pock- eted our ticket and bade that amiable gentleman farewell, with- out even a foreboding that like that oft-quoted and juvenile bear — " all our sorrows were to come." Upon our return to the upper chamber of the "Planters," we learned that General Clarke of the United States Army was sojourning in the house, so, presuming upon an old introduction, and the fact that we were in pursuit of information — as regar- ded matters and things in general, and Kansas in particular — we took. the liberty of sending up our "pasteboard" — and was soon after shown to his room. And a fine specimen is General Clarke of the hale, hearty old gentleman ; he is moreover, in some respects, a soldier of the rough and ready — or may we not as well say at once of the American — school ? for 32 AT THE " PLANTERS." few possess more of that wonderful desideratum (in this age of practical humbug), good, strong, hard, common sense. The general confirmed the statements which we had previously- heard made, by those well qualified to judge, as to there being a sufficiency of United States troops then stationed in Kansas within striking distance of the scene of difficulty to put down *ny violations of law and order in the Territory. General Clarke, however, expressed the hope that so sad an ultimatum might never become necessary — as it should be the very last argument resorted to — to which we, as in duty bound, said a fervent amen. The following, from our journal of the 9th, is of that days' experience, all which seems worthy Qf being chronicled here. It blew here last night as if Old Boreas had left all his store-house doors open. Some of the boats on the river broke loose from their moor- ings. We hear, however, of no very serious damage being done. At Jefferson Barracks the brick and plaster work suffered considerably, and an officer who left there this morning, tells us that the parade-ground is littered with fragments of roofs, walls, porches, etc. When the gale was at its height a fire-alarm was sounded — we turned out immediately, in a light undress, consisting of a shirt and drawers, without stockings, for, like the Hibernian at the Astor, we didn't even know that the hotel was insured, and we were quite positive that we were not. The fire, however, proved to be upon Fourth street, it having broken out in the interior of two small brick stores, where it was very wisely permitted to burn itself out. Apropos to fires, we will back the St. Louis Fire Department, even against the B'hoys who " run wid der mashine" in the Empire City, for making a " confusion worse confounded" upon these occasions, for, despite the howling of the storm we never heard such a " human rumpus" at a fire before. But perhaps it is as innocent a way of evaporating one's animal spirits as any other which could be devised — and far be it from us to interfere with the pleas- ures of the people. We have met to day, for the first time in three years, with our valued friend — Assistant Surgeon Joseph B. Brown of the Army — one of the best officers of his grade on the Medical Staff. We had been comrades upon THE MUD CART. 33 the frontiers of Mexico, had ridden side by side, through many a weary mile of Texan chaparral, and broken commissary biscuit at the same table, amid the swamps on the head waters of the Los Moras. But our time for " comparing notes" was of the shortest, for we found that the Doctor was leaving that morning, with his "wife and bairns," for Old Point Comfort Va. : from whence he was ordered to embark for service with the Ninth In- fantry in Oregon. May the Indians spare him. And so ends Sunday, December the 9th. We began our Monday by breakfasting at early dawn, and then getting into a chilly omnibus and driving in company with five miserable-looking beings (the whole party, ourself included, presenting the general appearance, as seen by the uncertain light of a bitter winter morning, of having been up all night), to the starting point of the North Missouri railroad— from whence an eighteen, or as some call it thirteen miles* ride, brought us to the Missouri river shore, just opposite the town of St. Charles, which we reached in due course of time, by a steam ferry-boat, whose exterior at least would have astonished a New Yorker to a very considerable degree. St. Charles, Mo., is, to our fancy, about the meanest town which it has yet been our misfortune to set foot in — being half French, three-quarters Dutch, and, as an Irishman would say, the other half " nigga." On our arrival here, we went to a " groggery " looking sort of tavern — where a couple of " foreigners n drinking Schnapps, a low ceiled room, and a high bar with quaint old drinking- glasses, made up a very Flemish interior. In this Gerald Douw-ish seem- ing place we were detained half an hour, when a cry of " here comes de stage," brought us to the door, to catch a glimpse of the vehicle in which we felt so deeply interested, and, oh horror! how shall we describe the " thing n which met our affrighted gaze — for really " Miss O'Dowd's convaniency " was a " fool to it." 2* 34 THE TEN. But let us attempt a description. It was what the Missourians call a M mud cart" — a cross in fact between a second-hand bakers' wagon — and a hospital ambulance which had seen hard service ; this blessed institution was calculated to hold six by the builder, and, as we afterwards discovered, nine by the stage company* In short, it was to us a terrible surprise — a kind of waking nightmare that we couldn't get over. But as Smashup, Breakdown & Company were just eighteen miles in our rear, and the " Wakarusa war," supposed to be raging ahead of us, we strove to make the best of a bad business by hoisting ourself into the u mud-cart," which didn't improve upon a closer inspec- tion, where we shoved our carpet-bag under our feet, and pro- ceeded to insert ourself into the still unoccupied half of the front seat, for the place by our side had already been taken by a very clever seeming Yirgiuian, with whom we had just scraped an acquaintance upon the cars, which bade fair to increase and prosper. The back seat was also full — a hale old gentleman and his daughter, a rather pretty Missourian girl, who looked anything but charmed with our conveyance, being its occu- pants — yet the middle bench was still empty. Well thought we, this is not so very bad after all, if the " mud-cart" is a humbug, it is at all events not crowded, and that in staging is no small advantage ; but even this hope was destined to be dis- pelled, for our landlord cried, " Driver, don't forget those passen- gers, they're all ready to start." " What passengers ?" shouted we, as our Jehu began hand- ling his lines ; " how many ?" We caught the landlord's reply, which overtook us on the road, as we rattled down the mud-hole of a main-street. It was a staggerer, for it said, " only ten." Ten 1 we turned pale at the very thought ; ten and four made fourteen — and fourteen in a stage mud-cart ! It seemed an impossibility. " Smack went the whip, on rolled the wheels " — " was ever man so sad ?" THE DUTCH STAGE-AGENT. 65 till we halted at the door of a — a far Western Hotel, Class No. 2, and depreciating at that. And there, dreadful to relate, stood the ten, the expectant ten, all waiting to be jammed, with such a wagon-load of luggage, and so many little things which must be carried inside, that we felt assured that our hypothesis of an impossibility would be correct, and thereby save us per- force, at least in part. But who were the ten? They consisted, so far as a bird's- eye view could inform us, of three very " Deown East " looking Yankees, with two "ladies," old and young-r-neither beinsr pretty — and a little girl to fill up their half dozen, for these six went in a lot, all, Yankee-like, anxious to get ahead, while the remaining four, two of whom were Hibernians, stood looking on, as if it were a matter of perfect indifference to them whether they spent the day where they were or not. In the meanwhile the St. Charles agent of the stage-line — a little Dutchman with a mulish face — had* made his appearance, way-bill in hand, on the pavement before the inn, where he stood looking distractedly from the document in his fist to the eager group of Yankees, who had evidently made up their minds to get in " whether or no." Time was passing, and the driver be- coming impatieut ; but the Dutchman could get no light upon his dilemma. He couldn't jam even six more inside ; he might squeeze in nine in all ; but he wouldu't hire an extra coach. He scratched his head ; he pondered ; he couldn't cypher it out. At length a brilliant thought seemed to have struck him ; he had determined to do it by subtraction. " Sir," said he, to our half-frozen self, " your name ish last upon de bill. You ish expected to ride on de driver mit de outshide." To this modest proposition a voice (it was ours, speaking from the inner fold of a mammoth woollen comforter), mildly objected, and the following dialogue ensued : 36 A ROW FOR TWO. He. — " But you mush git out ; dese peoples mush go ou. Mein Gott, but you mush." We. — " But I have paid my money, sir. Here is my ticket, duly made out, good for this day, aud this day only." He. — " But I cannot help him, sir ; you mush git out, or ride mit de outshide on de driver." We. — " But I won't. I've got a bad cold." lie. — " You musht. You may go back and sue mit de com- pany, if dere ish anyting dat ish wrong." We. — " But I won't. I haven't time to go back and sue the company. My business is to go ahead, and I'm going." He. — " You mush get out, or I shall make you." At this stage of the conversation we opened our great coat, and displayed the mild-looking butt of a persuasive revolver (for we had taken the precaution to briug with us at least five good reasons for being politely treated). Haviug turned the handle of this weapon somewhat ostentatiously into a more come-at-able position, we assumed, so far as our very amiable countenance would permit, the manner and style of the " Blood- drinking Border-Ruffian," as we had seen those worthies set forth in Crockett's Yarns, and Far- Western Almanacs, and delivered ourself as follows : " Stranger, we war raised in South- Western Texas, we war. We can't be crowded — not much. We air considered hard to run against — we air a reg'lar pine-knot. Ef we air moved from this hyar cart, we must be lifted. But ef yeou feel like it, stranger, don't restrain yeourself — pitch in. We're considered as numerous as most folks, we are." In fact, we defined our position, and " rared back" upon our " reserved rights " generally, at the same time intimating to our krout-eating friend, that if he wanted his " haf raised off his head, like a wild Ingiu's, he had better take a hand." The agent grows civil and disappears. We supposed the THE CITY MARSHAL. 37 fight was over, and was just congratulating ourself upon having gained a very easy victory, in which (as the bulletins have Sc id) we " had to regret the loss of none killed and none wounded." iiut we were never more disappointed in our life. Interval of twenty minutes, during which we sat munching .*n underdone ginger-cake. Time up. The agent returns, accoji panied by a short individual in a long nose, red hair, and a light, saffron complexion, to accord. Small individual looked fierce, and remarked that his name was Johns ; we suggested that we were glad to hear it, and thought the appellation rather pretty than otherwise. " But I want you to know, sir, that I 'm the city marshal." We intimated that it was a gratification to us to receive that interesting piece of intelligence. " But, sir, you must get out of that stage." We stated that we were sorry to refuse so pleasant-spoken a gentleman, but that, under the circumstances, it would be utterly out of our power to gratify him. " But you must." " But I shan't." " But it's a law, sir, in the State of Missouri, that the tenth passenger rides outside." We intimate a doubt, and express a desire to see chapter and verse ; the marshal steps forward threateningly ; we produce our five-shooter, and begin dandling it upon our knee. An awful pause. We admit our willingness to acknowledge the majesty of Mis- souri law, by submitting to any legal process, reserving to our- self, however, the right to demand the writ, and surrender our body under protest, with a promise to prosecute the red-haired individual for an assault with a battery to boot, should he over- step the powers of his office. We wind up our business with the saffron-colored functionary in these words : 38 WE CONQUER. " It strikes me, Mr. Marshal, that you're making a fool of yourself. If you have got a warrant for me, show it ; if you have not, mind your own business, and save trouble ; for, with- out intending to threaten, I want to assure you that I intend to protect myself." The marshal hesitates — he will not take the responsibility — five minutes more — our logic has triumphed — the marshal has succumbed. The red-haired man takes his long nose and saffron- colored complexion out of our visual horizon — the stage-agent is discomfited, and goes with his head cowed down, like the tail of a cur in difficulty, to procure an extra hack, into which steps the hale old gentleman with his pretty daughter, leaving our back seat to be refilled (oh, most unhappy change), by the old and young Yankee ladies with the little girl aforesaid — two Yankees, male specimens, then pile into the middle seat, while the third perches himself upon the box, beside the driver ; and so, being " all wrong," we " roll out n for Kansas. The agent, mounted upon a rat of a mule, whose expressive counteuauce seemed modelled after its rider's, trotted by our side until we were clear of " the town," where he took his departure, and as he did so, we thrust our body half out of the place where the mud-wagon's curtain ought to have been, to wave an ironical adieu, and desire our "most particular regards to his red-haired friend, the city marshal.'' WINTER SCENERY. 39 CHAPTER III. A HARD ONE FOR THE AUTHOR. From this time forth, until the day of our return to St. Louis, we may truly say that we suffered " some." For if the happi- ness of life be composed of trifles, it is equally indisputable, that little discomforts make up its miseries. And oh, that dreary day 1 the first of a long procession of dreary days, each gloomier than the last ; which, even now (as we scribble up our experiences amid the superfluities of a city residence), give us a shiver, as we recall them to mind ; for they have left upon the tablet of our memory a most un-Gignoux-ish winter scene, with no sun- shine in its leaden sky, full of huge trees, dismantled by the December blast, with great arms rocking to and fro, and un- thrifty-looking farms, where the half-frozen cattle sought shelter in vain, or crowded against each other to keep out the piercing cold ; and then the searching, bitter wind, the vain attempts to guard yourself from the weather ; the getting chilled and rest- less, and sleepy ; the conversation growing shorter and more 6nappish as the day wore on ; the quarrels for room ; the diffi- culties between your legs and the lower limbs of your fellow- passengers, which could not be compromised ; the ruts ; the mud-holes, masked with ice that wouldn't bear ; with a finale at night-fall, in the shape of a halt at a log-cabin hotel, where the "stage got supper," and the landlord, a very old settler, brought out a bottle of corn-whisky, and a bowl of brown 40 RIBS AND SIDES. sugar, and asked us to "step up and take a little something before tea." After which, supper was announced, and we walked into the kitchen (an establishment, by the way, that re- minded us strongly of the houses which we used to bnild out of corn-cobs, when a boy), to eat it ; and now, with your permis- sion, we will chronicle that supper, as a fit exponent of our way- side meals, with two blessed exceptions, from the Alpha to the Omega of our recent far Western travel. Imprimis. — It was in " killing time," and hog-meat was every- where ; so we had sausages at both ends and ribs in the middle, flanked by other and less recognizable preparations of the unclean beast. Then there were dried apples, underdone hot biscuits, with what Willis would call two stomach-aches in each, and coffee, considered such by courtesy — a beverage not to be indulged in with impunity — all of which was provided at the very moderate rate of four bits (a bit being the universal appel- lation for a York shilling in Missouri) per head. N. B. — We forgot to add three dirty "niggers" who served the repast, and a white woman who took the head of the table, where she seemed ill at ease, and appeared to us like the perso- nification of chills and fever, and an overworked one at that. And then the driver, who had supped with " the stage " — for the Far West levels all social distinctions — thrust in his head with " Stage's ready — all aboard, gentlemen !" We gathered our coat about us — wrapped our comforter more closely about our ears — seized our carpet-bag — cast " one last, long, lingering look behind " at the huge log-fire and the ruddy light within, and then anathematized the stage company,and re- sumed our seat. If the dreary day had been full of sorrows, what was that night ? "No stars — no moon — All dark — all gloom — We rumbled on — still on." A D0G-GAUN BAD PLACE. 41 Till with a whoa I and a sudden pull up, the driver poked in his head at the termination of the first two miles' jolting, and requested all hands to get out, as " he allowed he'd broke a king-bolt." There was no use in grumbling — we descended — we stepped into a mud-hole — we wet our feet — we swore, I am afraid we did — we got a rail — we made a mechanical power of ourself — we helped to hoist the mud-cart upon its wheels ; and then being all wrong, got in again ; but we might have spared our- self the trouble, for it was first a hill and then a descent — a " corduroy " road, or it may be an insinuating suggestion from the driver, such as : " Here's a dog-gaun bad place, gentlemen ; ef yeou don't want yeour necks broke, yeou'd better git out ; but it don't make no difference to me — I don't kear — you may stay in ef yeou'd drather." It is needless to say that we didn't " drather." And thus the night wore on, between shaking inside, and " footing it " out, until two o'clock in the morning, when one of our " ower care- ful " drivers got out to 14 pick a place " at which to cross " a slew," or what Western men call a 11 branch/' which inter- sected the road immediately in front of us. Having fouud what he was pleased to designate as "a heap the best crossing," he remounted his perch, seized the reins, urged on his cattle, and dashed in ; the leaders scrambled out of the half-frozen ditch, for such it was ; the wheelers followed, but not so the coach- there was a sudden stop — a crash — a heavy fall — and then a sort of smothered howl from the driver, with a noise like a locomotive running away, induced us to poke our head out into the night for information— and a pretty prospect it was which met our eye. The stage, with its cargo of passengers and luggage, was embedded in the slew, while the luckless driver sat upon the ground some ten feet in advance of his box, from whence he had been dragged by the lines ; and where he was just 42 SMASHED UP. then engaged in feeling of his bones, as if to assure himself that they were unbroken, with interludes, as the small bills say, of tender manipulations in certain back settlements, which wouldn't, at that particular moment, bear any great amount of friction. The team in the meanwhile was out of sight, but we couldn't complain, as they had certainly been pleased to make a very equal distribution of the spoils, by taking with them their share of the concern, the fore-wheels and their appurtenances, and leaving to us the body of the mud wagon, with its hind wheels and boot-load of luggage attached. As we afterwards discovered, they ran about half a mile, strewing sun- dry fragments here and there as they went, as if to mark their road ; nor is it probable that they would have halted short of the next station, full two miles further on, if they had not grown weary of dragging one of their companions, the rear wheeler, who had the ill luck to fall, and whom (as they were too much hurried to give the beast time to pick himself up), they consequently pulled after them by the harness-leather across the frozen prairie ruts, until the unfortunate animal was lite- rally flayed alive from the tip of his nose to the very end of his scraggy-looking tail, when they magnanimously condescended to stop and permit themselves to be caught. Having accomplished this much, we all, driver included, left the vehicle, with our " plunder," and that famous traveller, Uncle Sam's Mail, to take its chance upon the broad prairie, while we "put out" in search of fire and a shelter; these were finally obtained, after some hunting about in the gloom of that dreary hour which immediately precedes the breaking of day, in a little hill-side log-cabin, where, thanks to a good-natured Missourian, who got up and opened the pin-fastened door to receive us, our benumbed passengers found a Western welcome to such com- forts as its very limited accommodations could afford. So we made the best of a bad matter, and forthwith crouched down THE WAY-SIDE STATION. 43 upon a low stool before the heaped-up wood-fire — burning one side, and shivering upon the other, as we turned ourself, like a perambulating meat-jack, to its blaze, until the first faint glimmer of the morning light crept in through the unchinked logs to herald the coming of the dawn, when we once more took the road, and in company with our Virginian friend, pushed on to " the station," where, in the proper course of events, the mud- cart should have changed horses some hours before, at which we arrived, per Shanks mare, without further casualty. Here we breakfasted at " the hotel*" — a log-cabin, of course — on the stereotyped bill of fare — attended to our ablutions, and repaired damages generally — and then passed two very unentertaining hours in company with a brace of Missouri hog-drivers, whose conversation, save when it turned upon the mysteries of their trade, contained, as our city journalists say, when referring to the arrival of the "Southern mail" — "nothing new." At ten o'clock, a. m., our driver, a very independent sort of person, after refreshing himself with hog meat, coffee, " a sleep and a smoke," thought proper to go down and look after the mud-cart, which was still reposing most iugloriously in the ditch. It was nearly noon, therefore before we finally got under way again, and went jolting over a road which grew worse at every mile. The close of another miserable day found us at a blacksmith's shop and groggery, of a town whose very name we have for- gotten, and another, and yet more comfortless night — with some little assistance from an intoxicated driver, brings us to an upset, which we consider noticeable, the more so, as it came within an ace of making a very striking impression upon our brain, in a double sense. It was a December night — a credit to the family of such nights, dark, frosty, and depressing. We had two drivers upon the box — one a " native," very drunk, and the other a Dutch- man, who was only partially so, " by chance." The Dutchman 44 AN UPSET. had the lines — we were half a-sleep — having got as near a state of " blessed unconsciousness," as we ever do in a night-coach, when a quick tipping of the " stage," followed by a general smash up, apprised us (even without the exclamations of " Oh, Lord ! we're over." " Oh, murder !" " Oh, somebody ! take me out," which came dolefully from the Yankee ladies in the back seat), that the mud-cart was done for. Fortunately for us, however, the vehicle was so accommodating as not to turn over upon our side — a matter, by the way, of small congratulation to the poor Virginian, upon whom we fell heavily. Upon reach- ing the ground we found ourself at the top — (thank fortune for that) — of a confused mass of arms, legs, bodies, and travelling-bags — and as it is very difficult to prevent mistakes in the dark — and we didn't like to tarry longer in a place which might prove unhealthy, if the horses started — we forthwith pro- ceeded to extricate ourselves, with more speed than cere- mony. What wonder then, that, in helping ourself out, we should have committed the trifling impoliteness of setting one foot in the old Yankee's mouth, as he afterwards declared, to tho great detriment of his front teeth — while we kicked his better-half in the stomach with the other, until a change of position allowed us to make a step-ladder of our Virginian's back-bone, as he lay snugly coiled up below — from whence another stride brought us out of the place where the upper window-glass ought to have been. Being once more head uppermost, and safely landed upon terra Jirma, we flew to the assistance of the fairer portion of our companions, one of whom at least, if she were susceptible of cholic, must have been suffering severely from the external appli- cation of our buffalo soles. Nor was it a difficult matter to decide upon the precise whereabouts of these females in distress, for the locality into which they had been tumbled by the catas- trophe was made evident by a series of squalls in the duet style, the old lady doing the first, and the younger the second treble, SAVE THE LADIES. 45 with very opera-like effect. To out knife and cut away the leather curtains which fastened them in, was the work of a moment ; to put in our hand and get hold of something — we believe it was the old lady's limb, was the work of another, and then with a yo-he-oh ! we tugged away, until we had suc- ceeded in hauling the venerable matron into the outer air, where she arrived in a very flustered condition — quite wrong side up with care. Having thus happily accomplished the deliverance of the senior, we turned our attention toward ameliorating the condition of the younger lady, whose outcries still continued to " Vex the drowsy ear of night," in which laudable effort we were assisted by our Virginian, who had by this time picked himself out, with, as he expressed it : "Thank God no broken bones — but a very sore back, for somebody — one of those vile Yankees he believed — had kicked him there, right on his spine, in their efforts to save themselves, and he'd be derned if he didn't just wish that he knew which one of them it was." We thought that we might have given him some insight into the matter, but judiciously refrained — so after much poking, and some awkward mistakes, in the course of which our Virginian came very near getting even with the male Yankees still strug- gling inside, we got hold of the young lady, and placed her beside the elder. And as we watched the damsel who stood shaking out her petticoats, it occurred to us that, in one respect at least, she had got ahead of her venerable companion, insomuch as she had been delivered by a head instead of a feet presentation, having been literally lugged out by the hair. Our next procedure, after having counted noses, and as- sured ourselves that there were no bones broken, was to pass a general vote of censure, or, in other words, we uttered curses both loud and deep against the firm of Smashup Breakdown & 46 DRUNKEN DRIVERS. Co., general stage-agents of St. Louis, Mo., and their devices : with a particular application of our remarks to the offending stage-drivers then and there present, for their excessive stu- pidity and unpardonable drunkenness, to all of which " the Na- tive," a surly sort of fellow, hiccoughed out something about his " havin' known of a feller that once got his neck bruk" on an H Ingianny" stage, who had bin paid as much as five thousand dollars for doin' it, by the stage folks ; and he jest allowed that ef any on us war killed, the company would hev to pay us for the privilig;" an assurance which, though it might have been a comfort to an Irishman, had no more soothing effect upon us than to draw forth the remark, that we didn't want to put Smashup to any such expense, at least upon our own personal account. " But, stranger (continued the Native), I (hie) jest know that I'd hev (hie) my neck broke (hie) for that ; couldn't a feller buy a few acres and a nigger (hie) or two niggers, may-be — well he could (hie) yes — (here a pause for reflection) — yes, I'm dog- ganned, stranger, ef they mayent (hie) break my neck and smash my (hie) legs to eternal smash for five thousand dollars, (hie) well they may." As for the Dutchman, he (being the soberer of the two, or, perhaps we should rather say, the more sympathetically drunk) took a penitent view of the matter ; and, like a tender-hearted railroad employee whose negligence has just assisted at the smash-up of a few car-loads, seemed inclined to condole with our misfortunes to an extreme .limit, for he assured us : M Dat he would drather give five dollar of his money dat he make stage-drivin' dan have dish ting happen ; dat he never upset nobodies not more dan nine, may-be fifteen times, and he drive six month ; but dat he didn't know dis part of de road, and only drives for his friend dat is shic mit de whisky, but dat he never drunksh nothin, himself, but takish some schnapps mit his friend when tish cold." OLD MAN RHYMERS. ii CHAPTER IT. " OLD MAN RHYMER " AND A BOONSVILLE " HOTEL." We reached the town of Rocheport, Mo., late on the evening of the 12th, when we were forthwith rattled up to what the stage-driver — a new specimen of the genus, who for a wonder kept sober, called " old man Rhymer's tavern," of whose ex- traordinary conveniences he had spoken in such favorable, not to say enthusiastic terms, that we felt really curious to see that rara avis, at least in the interior of Missouri, " a first-rate hotel ;" but we found to our cost that in this, as well as in our other Far Western travelling experiences, the " Distance lent enchantment to the view ;" for even " old man Rhymer's " tavern proved upon a closer acquaintance to be no better than it ought, if half so good ; in fine, it was as dirty, ill-kept, and unprepossessing a village inn as we had yet encountered upon the road ; and we very much fear that our loquacious stage-driver, in expatiating upon the accommodations of this establishment, had a personal and, it may be, pecuniary interest in drumming customers into the clutches of mine host. Mynheer Rhymer, his very poeti- cal name to the contrary notwithstanding, appeared at the door of his " hostelrie n as we drove up, in the shape of an obese, 48 THE " SHICKEN " FIGHT. bull-headed, uncleanly-looking old Dutchman, with an oily voice and a fat smile. His first salutation ran thus: " Mill you hash supper, gentelmen ; dere is no stage here, so you mill hash to stay all night." Here was another damper ; but after three days and nights of travel over the very roughest of all rough roads this side of Jordan Turnpike, a night in bed was something " not to be sneezed at." So we gave into this nolens volens detention with the best grace possible, and supped on the unclean beast as usual. Then came bed-time, and our couch a feather-bed of course, for how could a Dutchman sleep soundly upon straw. And if a poor road-worn mortal ever felt the full force of Tom Hood's " O, bed ! bed ! bed ! delicious bed : That heaven on earth to a weary head, Whether lofty or low its condition," we were that mortal that night, for as we lay submerged in a feathery sea, we rolled, and tumbled, and dreamed of dire upsets and desperate ruunings-away, and then woke up to bless our stars, and enjoy the luxury, as we turned to sleep again, of stretching out our cramped-up legs without running the risk of breaking a neighbor's shins. December IZth. — Morning, and a late breakfast, not yet ready. Scene. — The " bar-room," the principal actors being the fat land- lord and ourself, with the loquacious stage-driver in the back- ground. This wrangling dialogue ensues : We. — Mr. llhymer, would you have the goodness to let your servants give me a bit of chicken for breakfast. I have been ill, and Missouri hog's meat seems to owe me a grudge, for we can't agree. He. — Slacken — shicken — mein Gott — de shicken ish too big to kill. Dish ish not de time for de shicken ; dish ish de shea- son for de hog. CHICKEN VERSUS HOG. 49 Here the loquacious stage-driver, whose feelings appeared to have been deeply outraged by onr request, broke in with the following most unauthorized observations. We shall take the liberty to reduce the oaths to blanks, and thus diminish his com- ments by fifty per cent, at the least. " By the great-jumping-flat-footed , where the did yeou come from ? Yeou can't eat hog-meat, hey ? Yeou're delicately raised — you air, by . I'll be ef we hadn't better send out and kill a few patridges for yeou — well we had, by the eternal . Send I may be . Chickens, hey ? chickens !" Here the enthusiastic driver halted for want of breath, and we embraced the opportunity to assure him that if he would do us the favor to step out and kill those " patridges " we would eat them with the greatest pleasure, whereupon the driver stared, and seemed really impressed with an idea that we took things — for an Eastern man — mighty coolly. As for our fat host, he waddled out, and ordered a piece of turkey's breast, fried brown in fork, for our own private use and benefit, on which we break- fasted gloriously, very much to the amazement of our Virginian, who was in the habit of amusing himself with our very Jewish dislike to the " entire animal." Upon finishing our repast, we, in company with our fellow- passengers, resolved ourselves into a " committee of the whole," to contrive " ways and means " for getting on ; for it was but too evident that our fat landlord was correct in his assertion, that, so far as " stages " were concerned, Smashup, Breakdown & Co.'s line had at length " given out for good." It was finally determined by our passengers, in council assem- bled, that " old man Rhymer " should take the responsibility of furnishing a suitable vehicle, and as he was the duly accredited stage-agent of Smashup, Breakdown & Co., at Rocheport, look to those worthy gentlemen for his pecuniary reward — an ar- 3 50 THE LUMBER WAGON". rangement, by-the-way, which seemed to afford but slender grat- ification to mine host, whose tavern gained nothing by our exit. But, overcome by our importunities, he finally saw fit to grunt out an assent, and accordingly went rolling out to order up the necessary transportation. In half an hour's time, " the stages ; ' were reported ready, and we once more sallied forth to embark in whatever new instrument of torture it might please Providence and " old man Rhymer " to bestow us in. And there they were, sure enough ; for one of the stages alluded to was a dilapidated hack, which held one male Yankee, and three ladies inside, while our Virginian, who had perched himself upon the driver's seat, after a round or two of argument as to the right of position, more than completed its complement. As for the other vehicle, in which we felt more particularly interested, it was nothing more than an ordinary lumber-wagon, which we should say — judging from its odor, and inside cleanliness — had been very recently engaged in the transportation of manure ; or it may be that its body had been on detached service as a hen-roost. When we came to take our place, we found the wagon already filled up with the Yankees' luggage, on which the balance of our party had already seated themselves, in compliance with a request to " pile in, ef they wanted to make Boonsville that day." So we were fain to follow their example, and scrambled up upon the heap of trunks, boxes, and bundles, which made up the plunder of our fellow-travellers, where we selected an eligible seat, which means — took up our position upon a leathern trunk, studded with large brass knobs, and lettered at either end with nails of a similar material. And in this " blessed institution " we rode some eighteen miles or more, in a light, drizzling rain, and a very wet overcoat. So don't wonder if our style of de- scription should grow curter as we revive the recollections of that day — for our troubles were beginning to tell upon us, even SIX OLD BLIND MARES. 51 to the suspension of our good-nature. We had not gone a league, when the driver — a near relation, we should say, of our friend of the " chickens," and a surly brute into the bargain — asked us very coolly to get out and walk, to save old man Rhymer's horses, up a very steep hill, and through such deep mud as the world never produced out of the State of Missouri. We were irritated — we regarded ourself as being humbugged, swindled, done for, and imposed upon, and, in the excitement of the moment, con- signed " old man Rhymer," his tavern, horses, kith and kin, to the "unmentionable to ears polite," with a codicil in favor of stage- drivers. We intimated, however, to the driver, that if he felt like saving old man Rhymer's horses, we should be most happy to handle the ribbons, and let him walk up the hill, or for that matter, all the way to the Missouri river. His answer was an emphatic one, and quite a " laconic " in its way. M Stranger, do yeu think I'm a dog-gavmed fule ?" In answer to which, we very frankly admitted that upon that point we had not yet made up our mind, but when we did, we would let him know, and immediately relapsed into a misanthro- pic reverie, which lasted until we reached the banks of that mighty tributary to the Great Father of Waters, which is here to-day — gone to-morrow — and as generally uncertain in its ups and downs, as that nigger, who is sure to run away — " In point of fact," as Wilkins Micawber says, we allude to the Missouri. As Boonsville is situated upon the opposite bank, it became ne- cessary to embark upon a ferry-boat, which plies from the point at which we struck the river, to the " City levee." This boat was a six-horse power affair, and we feel confident that our cal- culation is correct, for in this instance, the sole motive agent was a circular tread-mill, worked by half-a-dozen (we don't mean as the bakers count), old blind mares, with their bones so wonder- fully developed, and their bellies so singularly small, that you 52 COOXSVILLE. would have sworn that life itself was a burden to these unfortu- nate beasts, who panted and heaved while they walked " Their weary round," as if it were part of their business to imitate the puffing of a high-pressure engine, and thus delude the beholder into a belief that the whole concern went by steam, and really nothing else. But the old proverb cautions us to " speak well of the bridge, which carries us safely over." So we are bound to make honor- able mention of the mares, for although it was — pull mares — pull Mi'ssouri, and a very close thing at times, between our " six- horse power/' and the current, they finally, that is to say, in something less than an hour's time, brought us triumphantly to the Boonsville landing, where we remounted our trunk, and was conveyed to the City Hotel, one of the two " blessed exceptions," to which we referred when denouncing Missouri inns. There was one thing about this hotel, with which we were more particularly pleased, and this was the air of home comfort in its sleeping apartments. What decent traveller is there, who will not sympathize with us when we say, that it is so grat- ifying to escape from the bar, or general sitting-room, for, in a Far Western tavern, these luxuries, (?) are but too frequently united, with its foul odors and unprofitable discourse, to such a sanctum as was our chamber at the City. Let us describe it for you, for it has <{ a place in our memory " still. Imagine, then, a large, airy room to begin with, which has two heavily-curtained windows, and a broad, open fire-place, whose well-swept hearth, and high brass fenders, bore tokens of recent attention from careful hands. But the fire 1 ah ! that was the great success ; you should have seen it when we came in ; it wasn't one of your poverty-stricken, just large-enough efforts ; none of your single back-log, with one-or-two-sticks-on-top-of-it affairs, which A ROARER OF A FIRE. 53 might burn out, like a three-inch tavern candle, before you went to bed ; but a free-handed, generous, rollicking blaze — a roarer of a fire, in fact, who was now fairly started, and off upon a spree, and being so, meant to go it with a rush, and crack every log that came in its way, without reference to expense. It was one of those fires, too, that open a man's heart ; for it seemed to warm you right through, morally and physically. You felt its genial influence, the moment you entered the chamber ; — why, to us, it almost appeared to talk, as we came in, for it leaped up, and danced, and uttered a roar of welcome, as if it wished to say, " How are you, old fellow ? — glad to see you — sit down, draw up your chair — extend your legs, and make yourself at home." Our benison on that fire, say we, and on the man — or woman, perchance, who built it ; for, we repeat it, it was a bril- liant success — an undoubted one — and the whole world couldn't argue us into any other belief. And then there was the bed — the beds, we should have said, for there were two of them — why, they're a paragraph in them- selves ; such beds ! such " First class carriages of ease To the land of Nod, or where you please." as Hood has it, were surely never seen before ; they made us think of Dickens's old John Willet, and the May-pole Inn ; why, the state couch of that snug hostelry is no where by com- parison. You could hardly call either of thera beds for two, they seemed rather to have been built for three — or perhaps, we might say, with a view to the accommodation of small families — and, for the matter of that, we verily believe that, if Smashup, Breakdown & Co., general stage-agents, who understand packing, had owned an interest in the " City," Smashup would have got half-a-dozen into each. They were, moreover, curtained with some 'warm-tinted fabric, which accorded well with the cheerful hues of the carpet and window di . pery ; and as for sheets and pillow- 54 OUR SANCTUM. cases, why, we must refer the reader, for their counterpart, to the linen-presses of Dandie Dinmont's " gude wife/' at the Lid- desdale sheep-farm, for a description of which see Guy Manner- ing, fair ladies, and " when found," follow up the suggestion of Captain Cuttle, and "make a note of it." There was a sofa, too — a wonderful sofa — so soft, so practical, and, best of all, so old-fashioned ; and then there were chairs that seemed natural, and, what is more to the purpose, agreeing relatives of the sofa ; which stood round the room upon their sturdy legs, as if they felt themselves to be a credit to the estab- lishment, and — so they were. But stay, we mustn't forget the wash-stand. Not much in a wash-stand, hey ? Why, you were never more mistaken in your life, my good reader ! Nothing ? pooh, nonsense ! why, there's everything in a wash-stand 1 Think of the dimpled hands, that lave their tiny fingers over them sometimes, and the bright morning faces, that catch their first glimpse of sunshine from the reflection of their own optics in the basin, and then, we won't say a word, you know, about toilette mysteries. But believe in the wash-stand, or not, as you choose, that doesn't alter the fact that our wash-stand was just the thing ; a big, overgrown, apoplectic one, of real Spanish mahogany, turned black with age ; and now throw in a couple of huge, wide- mouthed, and scrupulously clean, white pitchers, filled with un- exceptionable water, with quaint-looking accompaniments to match, and a long mahogany rack, hung with towels, white as the driven snow, and we will let our sketch of a comfortable in- terior go from us without further touching, save this — if you are hard to move, and don't believe in its truthfulness, just try it for yourself, after four days and nights of winter staging in the Far West, and we will " eat our head," a la Grim wig, upon the result of your decision. The morning of the 14th, found us, so far as a conveyance ANOTHER DETAINER. 55 was concerned, worse off, if anything, than we had been at Rocheport : for the stage line had again "given out," and the agent would not even procure a wagon to take its place ; we tried entreaty, flattery, and eveu threats, but it was all in vain, we might as well have talked to the Missouri ; the stages were all up the couutry, or all down ; he had none to give us ; he might have a stage next day, or he might not for a week ; in fact, our getting on was, so far as his assistance went, quite a matter of iQioien sabe ? What was to be done ? The Kansas War would be getting cold — the Herald wouldn't have the news ! It was clearly our duty to push on ; we accordingly consulted with our Virginian, • who had a wife and youngsters near Lexington (our next prin- cipal stopping place, en route), from whom he had been for some time separated. We were, therefore, but from widely differing causes, most anxious to proceed. " I have it," cried he, after considerable reflection, " I have just learned that there are some empty hacks going back to Lexington, so we will leave the stage-agents to their devices, by cutting them dead, and hiring our own conveyance. . . And to this proposition we acceded, for although, we did not consider it pecuniarily to our advantage to employ a private conveyance, to transport us over a road which we had already paid ten cents per mile, for the privilege of traversing, we felt compelled to adopt the expedient, as the only one which seemed calculated to extricate us from the annoyances of a vexatious delay. So we sallied forth with the Virginian, and sought out the senior hack-driver, a negro, black as the ace of spades (his junior being a white man), with whom we entered into a verbal contract forthwith, wherein it was stipulated, that for a certain consideration, to be by us " the party of the first part," duly paid, he, Nigger Jim, as " the party of the second part," should undertake to bring us, bag and baggage, in safety, to Lexington, 56 NIGGER JIM. the next " principal city " upon our route, by nightfall of the ensuing day. But ere we leave Boonsville, upon paper, let us, to do all things properly and in order, make a few extracts (in another chap- ter), from a "letter home," which we dated from our cosy chamber at the " City Hotel." A VERY OLD SOLDIER. 51 CHAPTER V FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT EN ROUTE. Boonsyille, Mo., Thursday, December 13th, 1855. — We remem- ber once, ere we " put our sword upon the peace establishment," and our tongue, or — what comes to the same thing, with an author — our pen, "upon the civil list" — or in plainer language, when we used to do tactics in the army of our ungrateful Uncle Sam — to have heard one of our men — a very old soldier — from the Emerald Isle, of course (for who doesn't know that the "regulars" of Native American Uncle Sam are for the most part " demmed furriners)," close some unbelievable yarn which he had been spinning for the edification of a newly-joined batch of recruits, with this pithy sentence : " Yis, gintlemeu, av the littel adviutures that have happened to me, in my lifetime, an' more perticularly since I've bin a solger- in', was to be put inter a book, it's jist my imprision that they'd fill about five hundred family Bibles in the smallist kind of prent." And so, in good truth, may we speak of our sufferings, since your correspondent and his carpet-bag, got into the hands of that most atrocious of humbugs — the Smashup Stage Company. (For the subject-matter of a hiatus which occurs here, we must refer the reader to our inklings of miseries by the way, already recorded.) * * * * * * * ** And now, having told you of our troubles, we think that you 58 OUR POSSIBLE OBITUARY. must allow, that in our pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, in your behalf, we are furnishing you with proofs which ought to set us up for ever in your estimation, for though we do everything upon the square, and strive to work by the golden rule, we may even yet be leaded by some Border Ruffian, or enthusiastic Free Soiler, in which case please head our obituary with — OF KANSAS AND A MISSOURI STAGE ROUTE^ There, don't be angry with us for trying to be funny. It's no small effort, under existing circumstances, we can assure you, for really, our understanding — our physical one we mean — has been damaged to so great an extent, within the last four and twenty hours, that we shouldn't even like to sit upon a jury. (We would here refer the reader to our lumber-wagon experi- ences from Rocheport, to fill another break.) ********* But enough of egotism, and now for Kansas, whose "Free State War " seems to resemble the yellow fever in New Orleans, in this — that, as you approach more closely to the scene of its active operations, the agent which does the mischief is less talked about. Such, at least, has been our experience in Kansas news- hunting, so far, for in answer to our numerous queries, the Mis- sourians give one stereotyped reply, running thus : " We don't kear much about it, stranger, but ef our boys go up to Lawrence, I hope they'll kill out those dog-gauned Aboli- tionists. And I jest expect they will." Indeed we had almost begun to despair of gaining any intelli- gence at all, until actually upon the spot, in propria persona, when in comes the stage from Westport, with a whole grist "of live Yankees," every "mother's son of them" being Free State men — if nothing stronger — and all fresh from the seat of war. What they were doing there is probably nobody's busi- PUMPING A DOWN-EASTER. 59 ness but their own. Well, we have seen these worthies — talked with them — " pumped" them, if a Yankee can be "pumped" — tried to separate a mountain of lies from its mole-hill foundation of truth, and have gained the following : — As this intelligence has been superseded by more reliable testimony, which we afterwards collected upon the spot, we will spare the reader a reiteration of our news items, which, indeed, were, at that early date, summed up in the information that, so far as Lawrence was concerned, the " pomp, and pride, and cir- cumstance of glorious war," had taken up its nunc dimittis, or, in a military phrase, its " line of march " for other regions, leav- ing both sides victorious, and nobody satisfied with that some- what extraordinary result. ********** We have the following statements from an Abolitionist, who, as we have every reason to believe, took an active, if not violent part in the troubles at Lawrence ; we suppressed his name at the time, because of our promise to do so, for our informant seemed in mortal fear of tar and feathers. So agitated was he in fact, that we verily believe the nightmare herself could have visited him only in the shape of a pro-slavery jack-ass, with bowie-knife legs, and a revolving tail. But to return — he watch- ed us as we were " takin' notes," and hearing that we really meant to "prent em," he beckoned us aside, and very cautiously proceeded to open up his version of the " affairs in Kansas," to which we were all attention ; but it is no more than right to say that our gentleman mistook us for a correspondent of the Blank, a paper, whose proclivities are avowedly Free Soil, or it is just possible that he might have been a little less communicative ; at all events, he certainly regarded us as "a friend and brother" for he gave our hand a peculiar grasp, which, as we don't belong to any secret societies, save the Good Fellows, and others of that genus, we are free to confess we didn't understand ; but 1 60 A CUTE YANKEE TEICK. remembering that all stratagems are fair in love and war, we could not see why it should not be the same as regards the ac- quisition of newspaper intelligence, so we squeezed back as vaguely as we conveniently could, which called forth another telegraphic pressure from our friend, who looked mysterious, made signs of caution, drew us outside the door, said something about pro-slavery men being pugnacious, and having sharp ears, and finally, muttered something between his teeth about its being 44 all right." We had our private suspicions that our friend might find it all wrong, but didn't see fit to express them. (Our new acquaintance then proceeded to enlighten us upon various points, which, for reasons already given, would be unin- teresting, if recapitulated here ; there was, however, one state- ment made, which we will chronicle as worth reading.) Our informant tells us, that the so-called settlement of the difficulties at Lawrence, between the Free State and Pro-slavery leaders, was, on the part of the Free State people, nothing more than a 44 cute Yankee trick," amounting simply to this — that the citizens of Lawrence, after making a show of resistance, until they found that they might be overpowered by a superior force, avoided a fight, by intimating to Governor Shannon that they were willing to submit themselves to the laws, and permit the sheriff of Douglas County to arrest the persons against whom he held writs, and whom they had hitherto been harboring — a settlement was accordingly made, but not until the fugitives in question had been warned by the Free State party, and allowed time to make good their escape, which they were not slow to do. "But," queried we, "are the Lawrence people going to back down, and give it up so — won't they try it again ?" 44 They're bound to," was the reply, and so our conference ended. Upon parting with us, our mysterious little friend de- sired, as a particular favor to himself, that we should state, in case any inquiries were made, concerning him, that we had A FRIEND AND BROTHER. 61 kDOwn him in Louisville, Ky., from whence, as we afterwards discovered, upon reference to the record of the hotel, he had seen fit to register himself. " My real name," said he, "is S. N. W***, and I am a prominent Free State man in Law- rence ; but, for Heaven's sake, don't breathe my name here, it's as much as my life's worth." As we didn't want to place Mr. W*** life in danger (in case the Missourians might take it into their heads that he was worth killing), we have kept these matters to ourself, even till now. Oh, we had almost forgotten to say, that little W*** — for he was a little man, and not over handsome at that — seemed very anxious that we should make the acquaintance of some of the prominent Free Soilers in Lawrence, or, as the Yankees pronounce it — Zar-ence — to which we assented, as we were sincerely desiro^es of information, and didn't care from what source it came, black, white, or grey, for be it remembered, that we were after facts — facts of the stern hard-shell kind, for the Kansas news are as grist to our pen and ink mill, and we would even have coveted "a free fight," if we could have been "counted out," for the sake of adding to our items. And now, ere we close this long-winded epistle — for the can- dle is flickering in its socket, and our watch indicates that witch- ing hour, when " Churchyards yawn," and drowsy watchmen sleep — let us send you a veritable narrative, which we have learned from the lips of a New Yorker (hailing from Delaware County), who got it upon the spot. And we will here take the liberty of dedicating this yarn to the ultra-Emancipationists in general, with a reservation in favor of Mistress Blank (no relation to our Blanks up to date, by the way), if that dis- tinguished authoress should feel inclined to add an extra Key to the Uncle Tommia. It may be called — A Black Diamond — The Gem of the Kansas Season. 62 M STER MAG EE'S NIGGER. " It would appear, that among the Pro-Slavery warriors, who besieged the far-famed fortifications of Lawrence, there was a certain good man, and true — one Mister Magee, from Clay County, Mo., or thereabouts (everybody comes from counties at the West). Now Mister Magee owned a " nigger," who had worked in the yoke of slavery, until it ought to have scarified his shoulders, but had not. Of the precise baptismal designa- tion of Mister Magee's nigger we are unaware, but, for con- venience sake, we will presume his cognomen to have been Caesar — Julius Caesar, if you please — or, if you prefer it — Augustus. And our Caesar was evidently no coward, but rather a valiant man-of-war, who, like Mr. Norval, " JIad heard of battles;" in short, he was " a fighting darkey," aud accordingly accom- panied his master to prove, by doughty deeds, that a " colored pusson " has his rights and won't be freed without his consent being previously obtained, " anyhow you can fix it." Now, it so happened that Caesar, while serving in the Wakarusa camp, was charged with the performance of some scouting duty, in the execution of which he discovered an Abolitionist lurking about his post. Caesar hailed him, and inquired into his business there. The Abolitionist gave replies which Caesar regarded as being highly unsatisfactory. The Pro-Slavery darkey forthwith advanced upon this philanthropic upholder of human rights with an energy which, while it spoke volumes for his party zeal, said but very little for his pacific intentions. The pale-face turned and fled — it is not even on record that he lingered to say — Et tii Brute"" — or, as it is matrimonially translated — "and you too, you brute." Caesar was swift of foot, as well as valor- ous of heart ; he darted forward in pursuit. The white man quickened his pace, but Caesar put his long heels down as if he were after a runaway locomotive, and ere long overhauled the FIGHTING C^SAR. panting fugitive, who " surrendered at discretion," at the same time begging for his life, and delivering up r as an evidence of his submission (in compliance with Caesar's particular request), a Sharp's rifle, a brace of Colt's revolvers, and an improved bowie-knife, with which he had encumbered himself. Our narra- tor goes on to state that Caesar " toted " the fellow into the "Wakarusa camp, and then and there delivered up his prisoner and the spoils, to the manifest amusement of the Pro-Slavery men, and the no slight increase of the military reputation of Fighting Caesar. It is now generally supposed in Clay County (adds our informant), that a " white man may be as good as a nigger," under favorable circumstances. And now, farewell ; we have two or three nights more of staging before us, from which may the Fates send us a safe de- liverance, for it is " raining like blazes f the country is all afloat, the rivers up, and the bridges down, and your " war corres- pondent " given out to such a degree, that, like a certain dis- tinguished personage, he may be said to sit uneasily in his seat. We shall write you soon, from somewhere; but we are going to have a row with the stage-agent to-morrow, and there's no telling what may come of it ; he may be too much for us ; we anathematized a driver yesterday — result — stage upset, accident- ally, of course, just half-an-hour afterwards. Truly yours, &c, Hiawatha. 64 A FRESH START. CHAPTER VI. OUR VIRGINIAN FRIEND ON SLAVERY. But let us get back to Boonsville ; to our private hack, and the morning of December 14th. We were all ready to start — bill paid ; porter satisfied ; landlord smiling benignantlj ; Nig- ger Jim handled the reins ; and Virginia (as I shall henceforth call him), and " our correspondent," made ourselves comfortable upon the back seat, the front, for we were the only passengers, being already occupied by our carpet-bags. As we drove on, until nightfall, over a most abominable road, we whiled away the hours by chatting with " Virginia," whom we had already discovered to be a sensible, well-informed, and high-bred gentleman, of the old-fashioned Southern school. Among other matters, we discussed that much-vexed theme, the slavery question, but more particularly as to the effect of this institution upon the welfare of the slave ; and upon this point, we found our friend to be excellently posted, for he was, himself, a considerable slave-holder, owning a large farm, and some eighty negroes, in the vicinity of Lexington, Mo., of whom, not more than thirty, as he assured us, really paid for their keeping. We are indebted to V Virginia " for much valuable informa- tion in regard to the mode of life, habits, morals and general management of slaves, as at present existing in Missouri ; and we very much regret that our business engagements prevented us from accepting an invitation, which was most kindly ten- A SOUTHERNER ON SLAVERY. 65 dered, to visit his plantation and take up our abode at his resi- dence, where we could investigate the subject at our ease, enjoy some good shooting, and see negro slavery, not as ^Northern fana- tics would paint the picture, but as it really is to be found in many a Southern home, where the relation between the master and his slave is, in nine instances out of ten, a more kindly one than that which exists between the Eastern manufacturer and his sickly, pale-faced operative. And now we must ask the reader's indulgent criticism ; for it is no easy task, after an interval of weeks, to select from a mass of facts, stated in a rambling and oftentimes interrupted conversation, just such material as would be most interesting to the inquirer. We must, therefore, make the circumstances under which these things were told to us our best a'pology for the disjointed style in which we are compelled to present them But let them tell their own story. Slave women differ very much in their affection for theii children ; some exhibit great solicitude for the welfare of their offspring, while others seem perfectly reckless as to their fate. The old women are, for the most part, employed in looking after the children and cabins during the absence of the negroes in the field ; this is the more necessary, as the young darkeys are won- derfully mischievous, as much so as juvenile monkeys ; indeed, were they left to themselves they would be quite as likely to amuse an idle hour by burning down the " old folks' cabin," as in any less incendiary way. When the youngsters get large enough, they are frequently taken into the planter's house, where they do light work, stuff themselves with eatables, and, in many instances, get petted until they become completely spoiled. Singular as it may appear, we find it very difficult to obtain good house-servants ; for the negro seems better fitted for out- door employment. This is even the case with those who are brought up in our houses, for as they approach the age of 66 SLAVE MARRIAGES. fifteen or sixteen years, they grow restless and discontented, anc 1 begin to envy what they consider the greater amount of free- dom which falls to the share of the field-hands, who have their stated and regular hours for work, and are, therefore, at liberty, when their labor is done, to enjoy themselves, or, as a negro says, "joy themselves" in any way they please. We give our hands, both male and female, two full suits of clothes per annum, with under-clothing in proportion ; these suits are made of a coarse, but very warm and durable fabric, which costs between one and two dollars per yard. When one of our slaves desires to marry, he goes to his master, con- fesses the " soft impeachment," and asks his consent. If the object of his adoration belongs to another plantation, the mas- ter of the girl is waited upon for the same purpose. These requests are scarcely ever refused. As the negro has a great idea of doing things like " quality folks," their weddings are state occasions, where Cato and Pomp are expected to support their dignity by behaving with the utmost decorum ; while high- bred colored ladies show their " manners" to the fullest extent ; and though there be no presentation of plate at the nuptial feast, the bridal gifts are, nevertheless, of a very substantia! kind ; for. beside the remembrances of their companions, it is usual for the planter to present the newly-married pair with a four-poster and mattress, or it may be a new brass kettle with which to set up house-keeping. The slave has also his little garden, which he may till with self-interest ; as an incentive, the proceeds are his own, to be disposed of as he thinks proper. He is also permitted to keep a hog, and, if he desires to do so, chickens. There is, probably, no slave who might not pur- chase his freedom, if he were so inclined and would exert him- self sufficiently to obtain the requisite means (for we are told that when such an intimation is made to the master, he is generally willing to value his servant at a much lower rate UNCLE TOM. 67 than he would hold him at in negotiating with another party). " The negroes are usually particular in the moral training of their children. A sort of school was established upon my place, and kept up for some little time by an old negro of mine, quite an ' Uncle Tom ' in his way, who seemed to take great pleasure in attempting to teach the slave children, and for that matter, their parents, to read and write ; but it was labor thrown away, for though his pupils were zealous enough in undertaking their education, their literary courage soon oozed out, for your true African is anything but a book-worm. As regards tempera- ment and disposition, my negroes were formerly very gay; they were at it from morning till night ; the fiddle and the banjo made constant music in the quarters, dancing was the rage, and a ' hoe-down ' just the thing. But ♦ A change came o'er the spirit of their dream,' they took a religious turn, and my Uncle Tom got up 1 a revival/ which was what the preachers call 1 most abundantly blessed.' The sable converts were numerous, and, as they would do nothing by halves, while on the road to salvation, the fiddle was tabooed — the banjo put away — dancing interdicted, and even the innocent 'hoe-down' voted a child of ' de debble,' and a ' mighty sure ' trap, to ' catch de sinful nigger's soul.' Since then the excitement has cooled down, and, as in similar cases among more refined people, many of the ' renewed,' have ' slipped back.' But the influence of the event, combined with the continual admonitions of my Uncle Tom, is still sufficient to restrain them from any extraordinary exhibition of their animal spirits. So we continue to miss their dancing, and instead of a harvest-song, get Old Hundred most dolefully lined out. u The negroes, for the most part, adopt the family name of their 68 ALL ABOUT THE NIGGERS. respective masters, but the given name, or, more frequently, an abbreviation of it, is their only practical designation. In spite of all that has been said and written to the contrary, the negro women are generally chaste, and faithful to their lords. I have but one family upon my plantation whose women bear a doubtful character in this respect, and they are looked down upon aud despised by their fellows. If one of my negroes falls sick, he sends word to the house, when my wife usually goes down to visit the patient, and if it be a simple matter, within the reach of our family medicine-chest, she prescribes, and treats the case herself. But if the symptoms are violent, or, the disease assume a graver character, we send immediately for a physician, the best that can be obtained. A negro's hopefulness is small. When ill, they lose much of their elasticity of mind, are low-spirited, highly superstitious, and quite ready to imagine that they are certainly 'going to die.' Our white children are very fond of playing with the negro boys, more so, I think, than with those of their own color. I have a couple of youngsters, who sometimes get into trouble with their colored playmates ; on these occasions it very frequently happens that) my boys are thrown down, and sometimes get a sound thrashing from their sable companions, the children of my slaves, but, unless they have been manifestly imposed upon, I never inter- fere, but let them fight out their own battles. " As regards our method of slave discipline the whip is but sel- dom resorted to, and then only in extreme cases. An increase of labor, or a deprivation of some customary privilege, will usually suffice to bring the offender to his senses. A negro rarely suffers for an offence which he has not committed, for though the circumstantial evidence against him be ever so strong, when it comes to the moment of punishment, one of your old darkeys, of known character and discretion, will generally step out with some such expostulation as this : MISS DINAH. 69 I " ' Massa John, what you gwyne whip dat nigga for ? he no lo it. More like to be dat lying nigga, Pete, Massa,' &c. " Christmas and 1 Christmas week/ are the negro's great holi- lays. They have other 'gala days,' but the anniversary of our Saviour's nativity, is the ' festival ' par excellence, of the slave, i " I have quite a good-looking young negro girl, some sixteen ears of age, who has been brought up as a house-servant in my amily, and it is a matter of no little amusement to my wife and elf, to watch this sable damsel getting through the difficulties her first flirtation ; for she has a lover, a young fellow from , neighboring plantation, as black as black can be, who drops ato our kitchen on Sunday evenings to ' hab de felicity to pay is respects to Miss Dinah,' but Miss Dinah is very modest, nd prefers sending for some young colored girl about her own ge, who ' plays propriety,' and assists her in entertaining iMister Tom.' " And now, we have given the subject matter, if not something ,iore, of our talk with the Virginian. Supper time brought us to Marshall, where we halted for the ,ight, after accomplishing about half the journey to Lexington, fhe following is an extract from our "journal letter," of that ay: Marshall, Saline Co., Mo., Deo. 14. We have progressed, since writing you from Boonsville, some arty miles upon our way, over such roads as no Christian ever reamed of out of the Far-Western country, where every little branch " is a creek, and every creek a swollen river. Vehicles re detained, horses killed, and passengers indulge in the use of trong expressions, until the voyageur begins to suspect, that if job himself, of much enduring memory, had been sent (instead I If being afflicted with boils, and a wife), to traverse, with lia better half for a blister, the stage routes of the 'Missouri 70 A LOG CABIN INTERIOR. bottom, " he would have knocked under before the first change of horses. And apropos to the roads, we give our forethought credit, for, had we trusted to that " through ticket," of Smashup's, we would have been in Boonsville at this present writing, but being enterprising, we are here ; yet the exertion has cost us some- thing withal, for a long day's travel in an open hack, with De- cember's icy wind whistling in one's teeth, is a sorry joke, as our half-frozen limbs can testify. And now, could you look in upon us, you would echo the old saw, which tells us, that " one half the world don't know how the other half live." To locate ourself, then, let us give you an unvarnished description of the very primitive apartment in which we are now writing. It is the best, and almost the only room of a two-story " hotel," log-cabin ; a huge fire of Missouri coal blazes upon the hearth (the only cheerful-looking thing in the estab- lishment); the furniture consists of a large double-bed, of the old-fashioned, short-legged, four-poster breed, which fills up one corner of the room, and at present accommodates an almost sober stage-driver (who has turned in with his boots and overcoat on), and occasionally interrupts his nap by rolling over, with his face toward the company, so as to join in our conversation ; a very rickety wash-stand is placed opposite the bed, garnished with a tin hand-basin, not over clean, and a brace of empty whisky- bottles, one of which does duty as a candlestick ; over these hang a crooked looking-glass, which will caricature your face into a monkey's, if you are bold enough to consult its dusty sur- face ; or if you would regenerate your hair, look to the right of the mirror, where you will find a half-worn brush and very greasy comb, which are attached to long pieces of red tape, and hang pendant from the wall, pro bono publico; add to these, a rough board table, whose uncertain legs interfere sadly with our penmanship ; and a tallow dip in a sea-green brass candlestick, ROUGH SKETCHES. n •which reminds one strongly of a badly-managed revolving light, and you have an inventory of the regular accessories to this very primitive apartment. As fcr ^ n irregulars, they are all around lug ; for the dingy walls are L .y papered with "circus bills," (unreadable business cards, notice^ of sheriffs' sales, stray cat- tle, and patent medicines, " good for the chills f nor are these all ; cloaks, hats, and riding-whips are suspended from every available peg, and a rifle, flanked by its bullet-pouch and horn, |rests above the door, while the tobacco-stained floor under our feet is littered with a mingling of buffalo over-shoes, robes, Mackinaws, and such like travelling gear. And oh ! if it were only in our line, how we should like to sketch in the group around the fire — but "we kaut, we really iant," it isn't in ouer way. If we were Doesticks, or Dickens, :>r Widow Beclott, or somebody else, whose name doesn't occur ;o us just now, we might do them justice, but as we are ourself, jind nothing more, we must confine our pen and ink delineations to an outline ; so here goes for a slap-dash description. " Misery makes strange companionships — so do°s travelling ; vhat incongruities — were ever such opposites united before V • So ran our mental criticism, good reader, as our wind-dam- iiged eyes wandered from one to another of our associates for the time being, and it was a mixture of which we shall give '70u a taste of the ingredients. In the very warmest corner — a seat most judiciously chosen — i!at an old Yankee, with a long, sharp nose, and keen grey eyes, )ver which a pair of heavy eyebrows arched themselves ever tnd anon, as if they said, " Wael, I never — du tell !" These with a trip of yellow forehead, a bilious complexion, and amost unyielding | lead of hair, complete a face, which would have been a letter of Itaedit for its owner's " all-fired smartness," from Persia to the [Poles ; as for dress, Jonathan was rigged out in a coat, that I ras built among the granite hills of cold New Hampshire, or no- 72 SOMETHING FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE. where — a swallow-tailed thing, with huge pockets, and brighi brass buttons ; to this add a generous allowance of shirt-collar, a free-and-easy neek'erchief, a pair of striped breeches, whose legs were a world too short for his long shanks, and an unpolished sample of eastern-made boots, and we natter ourself that you have a tolerably correct likeness of as unmitigated a Yankee as ever whittled a stick, or talked about " hum," as connected with the land of wooden nutmegs. Next to the Yankee, sat our friend the Yirginian, the living antipodes of the character which we have just been attempting to portray. In face and form he was just what " sweet sixteen," with her pretty head filled with " Tales of old romance," would have fallen in love with at first sight. Yes, there's no denying it, for though " verging upon the forties," " Yirginia" was as gallant a looking fellow as you would meet with in a long day's march. And for his age, why, as the fire-light brings out i his features into bolder relief, we are disposed to think, that the hand of Time has dealt wisely with him, in strengthening the lines of the mouth and brow, and thereby adding a maturer ! dignity, ere in his ceaseless flight he brings the strong man to 1 the full perfection of meridian life. Yirginia is over six feet in j height, well proportioned, and very Spanish in his style, for his hair and flowing beard are dark " as the raven's wing," with eyes to match. Take him all in all, he is a true son of the Old Dominion, an F. F. Y. t( sans peur et sans rcproche," whose dress, and air, and manner, somewhat imperious though it be, bespeak the gentleman born and bred, of the real Yirginian school, where men are men, not black-coated fops. And now we crave room, plenty of room, or he may " clar the ground " himself, for another character, and a peculiar one withal. He is a type of the genus " Border Ruffian," a frontier A BORDER RUFFIAN. 73 Missourian, just fresh from the Kansas Wars, where he has been figuring as an incendiary Pro-Slavery volunteer, and " don't kear a dog-gaun who knows it." He is a tall, gaunt man, all bone and muscle, with ape-like limbs, cast in no classic mould, but never- theless sufficiently strong to " wrap 'em a'way round a b'ar," and make Bruin grunt with anguish at every hug. In short, you may regard him as a fair exponent of that eccentric class of Western men, who, being persons of terrible experiences, claim to " scream louder, jump higher, shoot closer, get more drunk at night, and wake up more sober in the morning " than " any other human'' this side of the Rocky Mountains, and " ef you don't believe it" it's "I'm easy to whip, stranger, I am, just pitch in, will yeou, and don't stand on ceremony," with, mayhap, a flourish from a horn-handled bowie-knife to second the invitation. Our Border Ruffian is just now regarding the Yankee as if he • would give the best horse he ever rode for a reasonable excuse to "jump him up," but the returned volunteer "will hardly get j a chance ; for though Jonathan evidently dislikes his neighbor, he has no notion of engaging in a row, where he " don't feel him- i self to hum." The Borderer is careless, even to a»fault, in his costume ; he sports a sky-blue blanket overcoat (a favorite color in MissoiW), from the side-pocket of which the butt "of a six-shooter peeps threateningly out, and if you will take a look into his right boot- leg, we should say that a serviceable bowie-knife might be found inserted between the leather and his tucked-in Kentucky jean pantaloons. He has hard, weather-beaten features, long brown i hair, and a restless eye ; his teeth are good, and his mo h t though somewhat large, might have been called handsome ; but an inveterate habit of tobacco-chewing has drawn down the left corner, from whence a leak lets the juice of the weed dribble gently down. How do you like our last effort, Miss Precise ? — think it 4 74 MISS PRECISE. colored hey ? Not at all ; it's done in simple white and black, nothing more we assure you, but you think he's a " horrid beast." Oh, you do ; well, we congratulate ourself twice ; first, that we are not your big brother ; and secondly, that the subject of our sketch is unacquainted with your very flattering opinion of him. But seriously, Miss Precise, did you never hear of an unpolished gem ? Never mind our Borderer's rough-setting. He is a diamond of the purest water for all that. An honest single-hearted sort of creature, rather Indian in his nature, who loves and hates with equal zeal. He'd cut your throat if you insulted him, and his idea of an insult includes any disparagement of the South or her peculiar institutions ; but on the other hand, he would share his last dollar with you if you needed it, and if a woman or a child be in the case, he is one of the tenderest hearted fellows in the world. Of such are Kit Carson, born in Boonslick County, Missouri, and the whole-souled pioneer men of the Far West. But our outline has already tempted us too far from our marked-out track. We have yet to reach Kansas and the War, and these digressions delay one sadly ; so complete our fire-side group with a stSge-driver (not the gentleman on the bed), a " Hoosier," a trio of hog-drivers, a Missouri landlord, and a " special correspondent," and then fill in the picture to suit yourself. One paragraph more, and we will complete our journalizing in Marshall. We are writing in a mild Bedlam. The Demon of poli- tics has stirred up our companions. The Free State war is before the house. The Yankee is defining his position. The Missourians, with equal earnestness, are defending -theirs. The arguments on both sides grow " fast and furious," and already threaten personalities ; and, to crown all, the sound of " de fiddle and de bow" is to be heard from an adjoining cabin, where a long-legged Kentucky amateur plays a tuneful violin, BEDLAM. 75 and a nigger, stripped to his breeches and shirt, is "breaking down " to that good old tune " The Arkansas Traveller," as if his life depended upon the elasticity of his legs. Dec. 15. — Breakfast over — sun just getting out of a snow- bank — hack at the door — Virginia and ourself inside — carpet- bags ditto ; we drive off. Stop, hold on : we have forgotten something — our note-book was missing. We go back to look up the lost sheep, and reenter the " hotel " just in time to hear a Missourian say : " That man — why, he's a correspondent of that vile Abolition paper, the New York Herald." We concluded that the "schoolmaster" might be "abroad" in Marshall, but didn't think it probable. We recovered our property, and then made good our retreat without beat of drum. "That vile Abolition paper, the Herald" — 0, Tempora I O, Moses ! as Mrs. Partington feelingly remarked, when Ike tumbled into the barrel of soft soap : " Isn't it a blessed thing to edito- rialize for an appreciative public ?" Another miserable day, and more of it. Virginia too cold to talk, and " your correspondent " too sleepy. Nigger Jim, who has a bottle of Red-eye whisky, " warranted to kill forty rods round the corner," in his pocket, thaws out under its influence and become gradually enthusiastic, whereupon we ask Nigga Jim what he thinks about the " Kansas War," who makes answer as follows : " Can't say, massa ; never form no 'pinion ; dis nigger ain't a gwyne to 'stress himself bout politics ; don't reckon much on dese Abolitiouists, no how ; but jest know dis, massa, dat dis nigga's jest as happy and 'joys himself as much as if he owned de whole town of Lexington ; bein' slave is may-be mighty hard on white folks, but it's dreadful good for nigga." We fell asleep well satisfied, for we had gained a new idea, or, to speak more correctly, had an old one verified, by evidence from a " most undoubted authority," whose opportu- 76 THE PEACE-MAKER. nities for acquiring practical information rendered him well qualified to judge. Night-fall again — sun down in another snow-bank — a streak or two of yellowish white light in the West — dark grey clouds overhead, while " Out of those frozen clouds the snow In wavering flakes begins to flow." We enter Lexington '* City," and draw up at the door of Wal- ton's Hotel. The hack is halted — the door opens — we descend, and our carpet-bag follows. The fare, as stipulated in Boons- ville by " the party of the first part," is duly paid, and Nigga Jim and " Our Correspondent" are parted for ever. An hour later — inside the hotel — we have had supper, and a difficulty with the landlord, by way of dessert ; it has, however, just been arranged in a highly satisfactory manner to both par- ties, by a visit to "the bar," by which the reader may under- stand, not the bar of justice, but the " saloon " next door ; and we consider it about as cheap a row, by the way, as we ever got into in our life ; for a " drink" of old Rye (which is at times regarded in Missouri as the pledge of peace, though it is oftener the cause of feud), costs just one dime per glass ; so that our late difficulty with " mine host " stood us in twenty cents pre- cisely, a clear saving of lawyers' fees and costs of court, not to mention vexation and the possible necessity of r< a surgeon and a friend " in the morning — think of this, ye pugnacious people, but two dimes to settle a fight ; mirabile didu! was there ever so cheap a luxury ? Eight o'clock, p. m ; we are solus, with a bed-chamber, two tallow candles, a shaky table, and pen, ink and paper for com- pany ; with which, half-past eight found us writing away at our Journal, for the subject matter of which see the next chapter. BEATING THE MAIL. CHAPTER VII. LEXINGTON. As our location indicates, we are still en route for Kansas ; but, n'importe, we are in advance of the mail, and did mean to have continued so, but at this place, we have come to a dead lock ; for, until the stage arrives, there will be nothing going on, we fear (alas !) in any respect. We might "foot it,'* it is true, and would; but there's our carpet-bag — ah ! that's a draw- back ; and then, what with broken bridges (we crossed one chained to a tree to-day, to keep it from sloping clown stream), swollen streams, swampy bottom-lands, and rut-plonghed prairie roads, the De'il himself couldn't make much headway on his own private hoofs, even with the assistance of his tail for a cane, over a Missouri highway in winter. So " Shank's mare " is not to be thought of ; but there's some hope left still, though it be founded upon possibilities, for this untoward weather cannot last for ever ; and then the stage may come up; and we may get a seat, and thus reach Westport, if we have very great good luck, within four and twenty hours from this present writing, when, " please the grunters," we will enter Kansas — yea, even though it should be through an army of Border Ruffians and upon the rump of a Mexican jackass. Kansas ! Kansas 1 Thou longed for **■ haven where we would be,'' but not " at rest," when shall we treac] thy snow- 78 GAS. clad prairies, and gaze upon thy Lawrence — the hope and pride of thy Free State men's eyes — a locality which must, from this day forward, be more than classic ground to every " Woolly Head," of the veteran white-coated brigade ? Oh 1 would that we had been there when the bloody ensign hung out upon the outer wall of that beleaguered city. Would we not have " pitched in V Ah ! no, but we'd have sat, like Marius among the ruins of Carthage, or anybody else you please, with a grey-goose quill in our fur-mittened right hand, and taken notes in most unreadable abbreviations. Aye, that we would, even among "flames and blazes," the " Wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.*' So much for fun — we'll grow more serious anon. Sunday, Dec. IQth. — We held converse to-day with a number of Missourians, who have just returned from " the seat of War, in Kansas," where they have been serving in the ranks of the Pro-Slavery, or, as some call it, Governor Shannon's army. They are full of talk about " the War ;" indeed, to do the good people in this vicinity justice, Kansas, and " the vile Abolitionists," are in everybody's mouth. They are shouted in the bar-rooms, they are sounded in the streets, until the very parlors catch the oft- repeated echoes, and packages of Missourian beauty, done up with care, in the last new fashion from New York (and a very liberal one it is, so far as hoops and flounces are concerned), talk resistance and disunion as they discuss " Kansas and the Wakarusa War." We have even heard of an enthusiastic fair one, residing in the territory, who declined giving her hand to a gentleman Free-Soilcr in the dance, alleging as a reason, that she was a Border Ruffian, and under such circumstances, wouldn't get'up "an affinity" with any "Cromwell of them all." The Kausas excitement is certainly at a white heat in this region. Old men shake their heads and express decided opinions strickler's aide-de-camp. 70 while young Missouri, yet more determined, looks revolvers, and talks bowie-knives, as he openly declares that " the boys ought never to have left an infernal Abolitionist alive in Lawrence." Among those with whom we have talked the matter over to- day, was an aide-de-camp of General Strickler's, who has just returned from his arduous campaign, with what, to our thinking, may not improperly be called the Field and Staff Brigade, for, may we be placed in that extremity, if we have as yet seen a man, of all those " fire-eating " sons of Missouri, who volunteered M for the war," who was not a subaltern at the very least. The Colonel (we think that was his title, and desire to apologize if we underrate his rank), informed us that he had written a short history of the u Wakarusa War." We were most anxious to see it, and therefore intimated to the aide-de-camp that his manuscript, or even an abridgment of its conteuts, would be a very acceptable addition to our gleanings of intelligence by the way. But the gallant Colonel's modesty got the better of his desire to oblige us, so we shall therefore be compelled, though most reluctantly, to disappoint public curiosity, so far as the publication of our Pro-Slavery military friend's reminiscences are concerned, though we offered "a first-rate notice" as an inducement, and the New-York Herald for a publisher. While engaged in conversation with this gentleman, Col. Walton (mine host of the city, and formerly an officer of Doniphan's command), called our attention to a burly, black- smithy looking dark-complexioned individual, in the geueral sit- ting-room, which adjoined that in which which we were standing. The person pointed out seemed, for some reason, but for what we could not understand, to be the cynosure of every eye ; nor were the glances directed toward him of either a flattering or an amicable .description ; on the contrary, men scrutinized him as they might have examined a newly-imported wild animal at a show, and then nodded their heads, and jogged the elbows of 80 PARSON CLARKE. their neighbors, who looked up and stared as if Barnum's mer maid had just walked out of the glass case, with her tail under her arm. " It's him." "It isn't." " It's that rascally Abolitionist, I tell you. I'd know him among a thousand," were the muttered comments of those about us. " Who is it?" we asked. " Why it's P ," answered mine host. "But who is P ?" " Why P is the prisoner that our people took, as he was travelling from Lawrence to Lecompton. He is one of the Pree State men, an agent, the financial one, I believe, of the Kansas Emigrant Aid Society, and a prominent man among the Abolitionists beside. He is now travelling under the name of Clarke, and claims to be a Baptist preacher, but he might save him- self the trouble, for there are fifty men here who recognize him." Whew ! thought we—" the murder's out." Here, then, is one of the famous Lawrence men, a bona fide sample of those doughty warriors, who are setting the American world by the ears. One of the Free State Sharpe's rifle and Colt's revolver breed — a veritable specimen, all alive and kicking. We got excited, we already scented a column of private information, " exclusive to the Herald," from the Yankee side of the question. So we deter- mined to make P 's acquaintance, even at the risk of being taken for "a bird of that feather," in which case our chance of beinir lynched for a Down Eastern Agitator, who might or might not " steal niggers," as opportunity offered, would have been exceedingly good. M Introduce us," cried we to Col. Walton. We were led up accordingly. Pro-Slavery men, with whom we had previously been conversing in a very amiable way, looked ferocious, but we didn't quail. THE FREE STATE GENERAL. 81 " General P , let me make you acquainted with Mr. . The Special Correspondent for Kansas, of the New York Herald." We exchange the usual compliments, and ihe fol- lowing dialogue ensues : Correspondent. — So, General P , you are just from Lawrence ? Free State General. — Yes sir, I was a prisoner in General Strickler's camp for four or five days. They took me as I was travelling. Correspondent. — Is it possible ? We hope they used you well. Did they threaten you ? We presume, however, that they did. Free State General. — Yes, the rabble, that is, the common men, threatened me, but their officers restrained them. Correspondent. — Oh ! the officers took care of you, did they ? Well I suppose they gave you plenty of corn dodgers, good coffee, and all that sort of thing ? Free State General. — Yes, I lived as well as the officers. . I was liberated about the time that the troubles were settled, but they took me out of their camp (the one on the Wakarusa creek), very quietly at midnight, when they let me go, for it was supposed by the Pro-Slavery leaders that their soldiers might do me a mischief if I fell into their hands. So General Strick- ler, with General Richardson, and Senator Atchinson, released me secretly for fear of the mob. Correspondent. — Now, General P , could you not give us some notion of the state of affairs at Lawrence ? How about those " breast-works," cannon, Sharpe's rifles, &c ? We learn that your people had a white flag flying over Doctor Robinson's house (the Commander in Chief of the Free State Army). Is that so, and what terms did you make finally ? Come, post us up, let us have the items. The readers of the New York Herald will be glad to hear your story. Nothing like both sides of the question being fairly stated, you know. 4* &2 ITEMS Free State General. — Well, I guess the New York papers know all about it now. The Tribune's had a man out there these six weeks, a person named Winchell, or something like that. Then, there's Phillips, he writes letters for the New York Times, and Tom Shankland too, he sends news to the Tribune some- times ; I reckon they have heard all about it by telegraph, any- how. (We intimated that the telegraph wires were down, and communication by mail at that season of the year, very un- certain.) General P continues : — " Well, as to the breast- works, we had them, I can tell you, with trenches, and rifle-pits too ; I guess they cost as much as five thousand dollars. We didn't have as many men as was reported, but we had a cannon and plenty of Sharp's rifles. There was a white flag a-flying over Doctor Robinson's house. Doctor Robinson was down in the town, and his women folks hoisted it. As to the terms of the capitulation, there's all sorts of stories about it, but I guess there was no particular agree- ment, anyhow. That's what it will turn out to be in the end, we didn't give up our arms nor agree to do so, either." (Note: We fancy there was some mistake, or it may be a desire on the part of Geu. P • to mislead us, as to his knowledge of this treaty ; for Gen. Robinson afterwards gave us to understand that P was acquainted with the terms of the treaty at the time when this conversation took place. In- deed Gen. Robinson supposed that it was from him that we obtained copies of the " stipulations " agreed upon between Governor Shannon and the Free State leaders, with its accom- panying document. In this, however, he is mistaken, for though we certainly did make accurate transcripts of these papers previous to our entering Kansas, and at a time when it was presumed that there were but three copies in existence, we received them from another quarter, a gentleman deep in CLARKE", ALIAS P S3 the councils of the Free State party, but whose name we are in honor bound not to divulge.) Correspondent. — With such excellent opportunities as you must have possessed for forming a correct judgment, General P } your opinion as to the cause and growth of these distur- bances at Lawrence, would be valuable ; could you favor us with it ? Free State General. — Well, I guess it was just a misunderstand- ing all around and nothing more Some folks in Lawrence are mightily hot-headed one way, and some the other. There are people among the Free Soilers who made a great deal of talk and stirred things up considerable, but I guess they would have been wanting if it had come to a fight ; and then there's others who kept still, and didn't say much, that would have fought till they died. Correspondent. — Who are the real leaders of this Free State movement at Lawrence ? * Free State General. — Well, General Lane I guess, and Doctor Robinson too, are leading men. Here the " down stage " in which General P — alias Mr. Sam Clarke (for our Free Slate " mffitaire" had, as Col. Walton informed us, found it more convenient, and it may be safer, to register himself in that name, of which more anon), had taken his seat, was reported ready. Whereupon the General turned to us and said : — " Mr. , as you are collecting information in regard to Kan- sas matters, for the Herald, I will give you a letter to some of the Lawrence people ; it will help you along." As we were very willing to be " helped along" so far as our fact-gathering was concerned, we expressed our willingness to receive any documents which might tend to the elucidation of that very knotty problem, the state of affairs in Kansas. Where- upon, the General very politely stepped up to the landlord's .84 A TERRIBLE ALTERNATIVE. desk and ia a few moments furnished us with a specimen of his chiro^raphy in the shape of a brief letter of introduction to Doctor Robinson, the chief far excellence of the Free State move- ment in Kansas for which the giver will be pleased to accept our thanks, but may the Peace Society deliver us, if these blood- thirsty and fire-eating Missourians should catch us with such a document upon our person ; for it would most assuredly be our credential to anything but a polite reception ; indeed, we should expect a coat of tar and feathers at the very least ; or, as a ter- rible alternative, be obliged to prove the sounduess of our poli- tical principles ; and, as the Border Ruffians express it, show onrself to be "all right upon the goose," by accepting a planta- tion with half a hundred u niggars," and adding a guarantee to shake out the remainder of our days upon the rich timber-land of the " Missouri bottom. " And now to write more seriously : during our passage through Missouri, we have been studying the "genius of the people" pretty constantly, and -we think that we may now safely say, that the good citizens of this State, though, as a general thing, endowed with a fair proportion of hard common sense, are still som what fallible, not to say stupid, in their very summary w\ <>f judging Eastern, or Free-State-born men; for they would appear to be firm believers in the adage, that " none can touch pitch and not be defiled." To have beeu " raised " on Deown E: Johnny-cakes, or even Ohio corn, is a certificate in full for Abolitionism and fanatical proclivities, or Free Soilism at the best. Indeed, the "black North" is but little understood ; for, as we stated in our journalizing from Marshall, we heard ourself spoken of as " an agent for that viie Abolition paper, the Herald ;" the Hen fd, a good joke is it not ? yes, it may be to you, but we've made a mental note of it, nevertheless, and don't intend to come again, as a newspaper correspondent, at any price, unless " our paper " furnishes us with the political character of the OFF THE TRACK. 85 sheet, so "fairly writ" as to please everybody, with, if you please, a certificate appended, to the effect that the New York Herald don't and never did belong to the "Woolly Head" fac- tion, or its representatives. But we must cry a truce to this, for we find that we have been imitating the example of the Camden and Amboy railroad, insomuch as we are running off the track of our subject, in trying to get on ; so, lest we should carry out the simile, and conclude with a " smash up," we will even " get back to our mutton," which, by this time, must be moderately cold. Let us see — we were in the bar-room of the Lexington City Hotel, hearing everybody talk Kansas. Well, our friend, Gen- eral P , got off with a whole skin, somewhat, as we fancied, to his surprise, for he made a most obsequious bow to the litue crowd of Lexingtonians, who gathered round him as he mounted the steps of the stage, from whence his " I wish you a very good morning, gentlemen," was evidently spoken in deprecation of any contemplated violence to his person, for though it was a sort of farewell benediction, and nothing more, it seemed to say, " don't hurt me, if you please, I'm only one, and so little ; now be merciful, and don't." Upon returning to the store, to rejoin what Dickens, in his American " Diary" (where he "handles us without gloves") would have called the circle of tobaceo-spitters, we found the generality of the crowd all busily engaged in warming themselves physically, by the fire, while they heated their indignation by a discourse, in which that accursed thing, " Abolitionism," figured as the text, and General P as a "horrible example." To have listened to the running fire of injurious observations, which vvas kept up on every side, one might have supposed that a contribution-box, labelled " Proofs of depravity, as exhibited in the political character of Mr. Abolitionist P ; the smallest favors thankfully received," was being passed round, so 86 FREE SOIL P- anxious seemed every one to pitch in his mite. From the sum total of these collections, after duly counting the receipts, and throwing out a quantity of base metal, we have gathered the following : That Mr. Abolitionist, or Free Soil P was travelling under the name, as before stated, of Sam Clarke (this we verified by the hotel register), who, as Sam Clarke, claimed to be a Bap- tist preacher, whether " Hard Shell," or u Close Communion," this deponent is not prepared to say, but that the soi disant Sam was really named P , who had been a Free State warrior " Of indifferent fame," but who was better known as a financial agent of the " Eastern Aid Societies." Indeed, as we afterwards ascertained from Governor Shannon, P had upwards of fifteen thousand dollars in money and drafts upon his person, when arrested by the Pro-Slavery scouts. P 's reason for travelling as Mr. Sam Clarke (as we understand it to have been stated by him- self to others), is as follows : " I had a clerk in Kansas named Sam Clarke, and wanted to send him to St. Louis on business. I accordingly took a place for him in the stage ; but when the time came for him to go, he " took to chilling V (that is to say, had fever and ague), and was, therefore, unable to start, so I took his place and used his name." All right, general ; but, as Colonel Walton of the city very pertinently remarked, ■'* Was it necessary that you should eat and sleep as Sam Clarke, as well as ride for him ?" FRIEND BROAD-BRIM. 81 CHAPTER VIII. TREATS OF THINGS RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR. Apropos to would-be preachers — but not always to such like — Goveruor Shannon afterwards related to us a good story, which, though it be a digression, may as well find its way into these pages before we enter upon the grand " theatre of events." There is now living at what is called the Quaker Indian Mission, which is located on the Indian Reserve and within three miles of the Shawnee manual labor school, where the Governor has estab- lished his temporary residence, an old Quaker who is, for aught we know to the contrary, everything which a disciple of William Penn — even of the "straightest sect" — ought to be. But we-all have our little failings — as somebody once said of Mr. Seven Stars' fondness for the ladies ; and in our Broad Brim's case, politics were an " amiable weakness." He went in for Reeder, to speak figuratively, body and boots ; and not only to the extent of his own body and boots, but even to those of his neighbors, as what we are about to state, on Shannon's authority, will abundantly prove. The election for delegate to Congress — we think it was — came on ; and the backers of Reeder were not backward in casting in their paper mites at the ballot-box ; among others friend Broad Brim, as we shall call him, came also, even as did Satan of old. He voted once ; he voted twice ; he voted thrice ; yea, a fourth time ; and, verily, a fifth ; and every time for Reeder, and " nary lick" for anybody else. Now, how did 88 HENRY CLAY INSULTED. he, a pious and a God-fearing man, manage it ? or, how could he " do this thing" and still compound with his conscience, and, what is almost as much to the. purpose, clear his skirts before his brother Broad Brims of " the meeting ?" Header, he did it thus : he voted once for himself, and on four other occasions, at the same ballot-box and for the same candidate, as a proxy for his particular friends, Messrs. A., B., C, and D., all of whom, as he affirmed, would have voted for Reeder, but unfor- tunately wa'nt there to do so. We understand that this mode of voting by proxy was exten- sively permitted, and we fancy upon both sides, in Kansas. They have singular notions in the West. But this is not the only peculiarity about friend Broad Brim; he is, at least so says Dame Rumor, a red-hot Emancipationist;, and once, when Henry Clay, the " Harry of the West " was ad- dressing a large political meeting at Indianapolis, la., of which assemblage friend Broad Brim formed a unit, this identical old Quaker stepped forward, and insulted the great statesman and orator, whose memory is enshrined in so many thousands of American hearts, by rudely breaking in upon his remarks, and crying out, " Why don't you liberate your niggers ? Go home and do it before you talk to us." Or, as the military courts say, " words to that effect." It is reported that Clay paused, looked at him for a moment, and then said : " Go home, sir, yourself, and attend to your owu business, for my slaves are better fed, better clothed, and, judg- ing from your very abrupt interruption of my remarks, better mannered than yourself." Rumor adds, that upon receiving this very pointed rebuke, friend Broad Brim settled down an inch or two in his boots, and then slunk away, so marvellously discomfited that he is even reported (in his extreme agitation) to have uncovered and made a hasty exit from the room, minus his sombrero. THE ARREST. 89 But to return to our " tobacco-spitters;" their indictment fur- ther set forth that Mr. Free Soil P (for if he travel with one alias, why should we net provide him with another ?) was riding near the picket-guards of the Pro-Slavery, or "law- executing army,' 1 then encamped upon the Wakarusa creek, in the vicinity of Lawrence ; that Mr. Free Soil P was requested, somewhat abruptly, to halt, by the Pro-Slavery picket aforesaid, which he, P , seemed unwilling to do, until a Pro-Slavery man had argued him into it by drawing a bead upon him with his long Missouri rifle, one of ''Jake Hawkins' best," and bound to "shoot centre " anywhere within two hun- dred yards. The charge goes on to state that our Free Soiler, having halted, did, thereupon, like Major Andre of Revolu- tionary memory, offer then and there ten dollars in current " shin-plasters " to bribe his captors into liberating him, at the same time stating that he was travelling upon urgent business, and would willingly sacrifice even that amount for the privilege of " getting on." But our Missourian was a second Yan Woert — a wag, and moreover a patriot of that stern and inflexible school who never make good aldermen. It is, therefore, upon record, that he accepted the pecuniary consideration without demur, and did immediately convey the same iuto the recesses of his breeches pocket, whereupon Mr. Free Soil, thinking it was " all arranged," made another effort to progress, when he was once more de- tained by the facetious Missourian, who, without reflecting that he was " adding insult to injury," was so impolite as to apply the end of his thumb to the tip of his nose, at the same time extending the remaining digits and gently agitating them in the air. But while we thus digress, Mr. Free Soiler is still ten dollars out of pocket, and only half captured to boot. Not content with this indignity, the Pro-Slavery man next proceeded to " bag," a la South Africa Cummings, the person of Mr. Free Soil, and carry him, will-I nill-I, into General Stickler's camp, ■ • f 90 AN INDEPENDENT VOLUNTEER. where their despondent prisoner arrived in a most miserable state of bodily fear, not to mention mental trepidation. Here the advocate of darkey rights was placed under guard, if we heard aright, in General Stickler's own marquee. He had not been there long, before one of his captors, the ten dollar man, ap- proached Gen. Strickler, who was standing beside his quarters, when the following decidedly unmilitary dialogue ensued between the Brigadier and his " high private:" High Private. — General, I waut the prisoner to come out hyar, I've got some of the old cock's money and want to give it to him. General. — It can't be done, sir, I can't permit him to come out, but I can pass you in. " But I tell you, General Strickler," urged this unabashed representative of the citizen soldiery, " I must see him." How the General settled this delicate point of military eti- quette we are unable to say, but certain it is, that when captor met captive, the former handed out the X, with a " Here, old cock, is your money, I dont kear about it." It is reported, that before P — : 's liberation from his con- finement as a " prisoner of war," in the Wakarusa camp, he was overheard talking to a fellow-captive who had been brought in that day (and who beiug in great fear of his life, which he already considered sacrificed to the bloodthirstiuess of the Bor- der Ruffians, whom the Free State people hold to be little better than devils without horns, was shedding tears copiously), in the following strain: " Don't be alarmed, my dear sir, don't be alarmed. You may consider yourself as being now in the very safest place which this section of the country can afford." And now a word for Lexington. It is really "considerable of a place ;" a sort of nine pound baby city, healthy and likely to grow, with perhaps this very Western drawback that " the SUNDAY AT LEXINGTON. town is so large you scarce can see the houses." To-day, Sunday, dawned upon it gloriously, uutil even the leafless trees of the broad "Missouri bottom," brightened up under its influence, and as the pretty (?) girls came tripping by in answer to " the church-going bell," we fairly caught the infection, donned our "Sunday-go-to-meeting" gear, got a nigger to re-touch our boots, slicked our whiskers up, and our hair down, and theu, took the field, armed with a pocket edition of the " Psalms and Hymns," to find some " sect" with whom to fraternize in their worship, and we were not, all things considered, very long in accomplishing it — a result which was effected by mingling with a " living stream," albeit, somewhat thin, who were then on their way to be " refreshed with the Word," as it is preached by the Groaners, a branch of the "Hard Shells." And verily, " in all our rough experience of harm," as the Yankee Skipper has it, I never before had met so strange a " meeting- house " But never mind an exterior description ; we won't comment upon the outside, but reserve ourself for the interior. So, as far as the building goes, you may imagine almost any sort of oddity that you please. The ancient and modern styles of architecture, for instance, trying to cross the breed, and " eventu- ating" a monstrosity, may, perhaps, be not very far-out of the way. This " particular kind of Religionists," as the sermom on " a Harp of a thousand strings " has it, is, we understand, quite fashionable in Missouri, and if the specimen of the per- suasion which we beheld in Lexington, be a fair criterion, 1 there must be a deal of fun in them. If you don't believe it, my vinegar-faced friend, just read the following, and judge for yourself : We reached the church (we beg the church's pardon, meet- ing-house, we should have said), entered, and got an unnoticeable seat. The service was already under way when we arrived, for we had been vain enough to hold on, in some hope of creating a sensation among the rural damsels by the display of what a 92 THE GROANERS. Missourian would call " store clothes," " which, alas ! have si then found a most unnatural end in Kansas but we are antic pating. Their minister was certainly a study, he had just such face aud air as a clever artist might have chosen to chai acterize the bell-wether of some hill-hiding Covenanter floct In short, it was stern, hard, and uncompromising. Nor wa his garb less singular, for he sported (may we be forgive for the phrase), a snuffy-brown coat, of strange and ant quitted cut, which bore but too evident tokens of long and no over careful usage. The continuations were of yellow ish-gre; cloth, with stove-pipe legs, built like an Irishman's hurricane " straight up and down," and encased below the knees i serviceable-looking buckskin riding-leathers, well stained witl Missouri mud ; add to these a pair of buffalo overshoes, a sui prising shirt collar, and a wonderfully starched linen cravat whose complicated folds and puritanical stiffness would hav broken a " New York washerwoman's heart at first sight," am you will have a very accurate delineation of this reverend gen tleman's outer man. We must not forget, however, a pair o! wide-bowed horn spectacles which divided their time betwee' the top of his venerable head, and the bridge of an. independ ently cocked-up nose, thereby adding not a little to the grc tesqueness of this somewhat unclerical tout ensemble. The text we have forgotten, for we always forget texts, no can tve at this present call to mind the precise locality in whfel it am to be found," but to make another extract from tha much-quoted discourse, by "the capting of a Mississippi flat boat," " It air to be discovered in the leds of the Scripters, an< somewhar between the book of Generations and the book ol Revolutions." As for the " sermonizing," it was literally and distinctly som being quite a la Elder Knapp, or in other words, a sort of un ; PARSON JONES AND DEACON GRAVES. 93 ersal raking over the coals, with a promise of a bigger fire to orae, for not going to prayer-meetings, winding up with a spe- ia] allusion to one unlucky night, upon which the parson and a 3rtain deacon Ephraim Graves had been the only persons " on and,"' a shortcoming which proved fatal to that evening's ex- cises, for how could they do the psalmody in an orthodox way, hen, as Parson Jones expressed it, "Deacon Graves couldn't ng nary lick, and he himself was hoarser nor an owl." A lack of attention to the Ten Commandments in general, and 3 the minister in particular, was also a theme upon which our reacher waxed not only eloquent but personal. But to give ou a " taste of his quality," we will select a few " elegant ex- •acts," which, as they caught our drowsy ear, between a suc- tion of what Eastern matrons call " cat naps," yet linger in ir memory, and we are the more inclined to quote them, as ley are not only very peculiar in their style, but withal, a fair cponent of a certain class of "hard shell " discourses, which ive long been popular, and it may be serviceable among the rough and tumble religionists " of the primitive Far West ur first selection runs thus : — "Yes, my sin-stricken bretherin and sisters, thar Lord only lows how I'm to bring this hyar congregation out of the gall ' bitterness and the bonds of iniquity ; whar's the sense of my rastlin's in prayar ? whar's the good of my groanin's in sperit ? har's the use in my ridin' down hyar every Lord's day morn- ', an' thar corderoy mighty bad at that, to try an' save these rar sinners from the brimstone and fire as is to come ? whar's ie sense, I say, my bretherin ? for I tell yeou all, an' I jest al- w that thar Lord knows it too, that thar's some of yeou a settiu' ^ar, that dance out at thar toes in a week, all thar religion that ar minister kin hammer inter thar heads, let alone thar hearts, ith prar-meetin's, and preachin', and singin' of psalms, through 'hull year round. Yes, my brethrein and sisters, it's thar wick- 94 A HARD SHELL DISCOURSE. edness of Christmas week, thar dancin', and thar foolin', an< thar driukin' and thar gamblin', that does thar devil's work hyar an' whar will yeou be, my bretherin ? yes, whar will you be, 1 say, when Satan comes a huntin' his own, or as is remarked h thar Scripters, like a roarin' lion a goin' round to see what hi kin devour ? take kear, my bretherin, take kear." And again — in allusion to the prayer-meeting business : — " Whar's the good in invitin' yeou inter prayar-meetin's, whei yeou air always excusin' yeourselves and never thar ? Ef i war a corn-huskin', wouldn't yeou be thar ? Ef it war a keard playin' party, wouldn't yeou be thar ? Well, yeou would ; anc I jest know ef it war a hoss-race, yeou'de be sure to be thar But how is it, when we want yeou to serve thar Lord, and cal on yeou to "come up an' help us," are yeou thar then? Well yeou ain't, bretherin, an* why ain't yeou ? Why, because thai ain't no keards, nor quarter horses, nor fiddles, nor dancin', noi foolin' with the gals, that's the why. An' how was it tothei night, my bretherin, when deacon Graves and yeour preacher wai all that war thar ? Well, it rained, s'pose it did ; air yeou sugar or air yeou salt ? and wouldn't yeou hev gone, ef yeou had bin sugar or salt, ef it war to -i frolic ? Well, yeou would. Yeou're a travellin' thar broad road, the 'hull on you ; it's dreadful nice now ; it ain't steep and hain't got no ruts inter it, but yeou'de better be a goin' the narrer oue ; yes, ef it war all corderoy and hog- wallow, yeou'de do well to be a goin' of it ; for when thar folks as travel it air a shoutin' glory, an' halleluya, whar will yeou be ? A wailin' and a 'nashin' of yeour teeth, tharh whar." And again : — " When I go inter thar house of a professor of religion, an' see thar, thar begammon board, and thar dice-box, or may-be, a pack of keards a lyin' on thar table, I allow that thar, in that house, thar's somethin' wrong. Do yeou see them air things in my cabin, my bretherin, or in Deacon Graves's cabin ? Well, Yeou're a travellin' thar broad road the 'hull on you; it's dreadful nice now; it ain't steep, and hain't got no ruts inter it ; but yeou'd better be a goin' the narrer one. Yes, ef it war all corderoy and hog wallow, yeou'd do well to be a goin of it>" — Page 94 KEARDS AND SUCH LIKE. 95 yeou don't. But thar's a Bible thar, an' a hymn-book thai, an' a sound of prayar, an' a shout of thanksgivin' thar. Well, thar is." Now it just struck us, after listening to this very un-common sense harangue, that there is such a thing as checking up a horse, whether quadruped or biped, a little too tight, and further- more, one might imagine that in a new country, not to particu- larize the State of Missouri, a parson might be pretty well sat- isfied if his flock fenced in their consciences, without expecting them to " improve" every acre of the land. We wonder what the reverend man would have said to our New York hoops and habits. And so endeth our Sunday in Lexington, Mo. 96 OUR AUTHOR ENTERS KANSAS. CHAPTER IX. THE FUNNY SIDE. By the way, it might be amusing enough to an uninterested spectator to see the crowded stages as they come in from the South to store their bedevilled cargoes in the " City Hotel," until such time as their good fortune — the elements and the " agent" — may permit them to proceed. In the meanwhile, was there ever such a " merry Bedlam kicked up" by any one set of worried mortals before ? Such complaints ; such threats of actions and damages ; such yarns of mud knee-deep, which almost realize the waggish idea of that u hat," with its submerged wearer, and the "good horse under him j" aud then such stories of travelling vexations, which our last week's travelling expe- rience assures us are but too true ; such grumbling ; such growling j such cursing and swearing. Did one ever hear the like ? But there's some fun in it after all ; indeed there's fun in everything, if one has only a disposition to grasp life by its smoothest handle — from that introductory joke the cradle to that gravest of all grave subjects, the grave ; for instance, while we sat watching the "current of events" in the smoky sitting-room of the " City" to-day, we saw a broad-shouldered, powerfully-built Missourian, who must have stood about six feet two in his stockings (if he wore any), come striding into the hotel ; and our eye singled him out at once as one who had evidently seen harder times than the rest of his travel-worn fellow-passengers ; I DROPPIN*' A STAGE DRIVER. 97 for his face was battered and bruised, his sinister optic con- siderably " the worse for wear," and his nose particularly " mapped out." We watched him closely, as he stepped up to the bar and ordered a " whisky straight," with all the air of a man who has reached comfort at last, and means to enjoy himself, and heard him say, in reply to some bystander's inquiry as to " how he had got along :" " Got along, thunder ! Waall, stranger, I kin jest tell yeou that I've hed an awful time — what yeou mout call all sorts of a time — fur I've bin a travellin' thar road whar those dog- gauned Dutchmen live, an' thar bound to crowd yeou ef they git a chance ; but jest jump a few on em, an' thar mighty apt to let yeou alone ; they didn't trouble me much, I allow — well, they didn't ; an' that air ain't all 'nother, stranger ; I've whopped a few stage-drivers as I come along — jest a few — somewhar about five, I reckon. You see it happened this way. I jest made up my mind to lick every one on em that upsot thar coach ; fur it's jest liquor and dog-gauned carelessness makes em do it anyhow — thar's otic on em, I allow, will remem- ber me ; he upsot us in a mud-hole on the road back a piece betwixt hyar an' Boonsville. I got out when the old mud-cart war a rolling over, and I felt bad, I tell yeou some, fur my cousin, a young gal that I war a takin kear of, got hurt con- siderable; so as I reckoned we war imposed upon, I jest stepped up to thar driver : ' Look a hyar, stranger,' says I, ' I'm a thinking of droppin' yeou.' Yeou'd better not on yeour own account,' says he ; ' it's agin' the law to whip a stage-driver in thar State of Mis- souri. ' Dog-gaun thar laws of Missouri an' thar stage-drivers, too,' says I ; and about that time," added the man who had seen "ail sorts of a time," parenthetically (for his drink had been compounded and was now in the act of proving itself to be a " whisky straight " by taking the shortest road down its newpro- 5 98 THE GRUFF VOICE. prietor's throat), " and about that time, stranger, I histed him, as I should reckon, nigh on to four feet, well I did." And here our journalizing at Lexington, for Dec. 16th, A^st give place to extracts from our log, written up at Westport,-.Mo. — which is, however, but half a mile distant from the frontier-line of Kansas Territory — on the night of the 17th. We had retired to rest at a late hour, on the night previous to our departure from Lexington, in the blissful expectation of a whole night's sleep in bed, for we had been informed by the stage-agent that the "stage " (for we were promised a real stage this time), in which we were going, was not to start until after breakfast upon the ensuing day ; imagine then, our astonishment, to say nothing of our consternation, at having our first half-hour's sleep — for we had sat up writing until after midnight — broken in upon by a gruff voice and a tallow candle, which admitted them- selves by the door of our apartment at the somewhat unusual hour of one o'clock, a.m. We were so very sleepy when they arrived, that we shouldn't have been surprised if they had gained an entrance by the window. The gruff, voice said : " The nigger tried to wake you, sir, but you slept so soundly that he couldn't ; you must be quick if you are going ; the stage is all ready, and it's snowing hard and having delivered itself of this interesting communication, the gruff voice took itself out again, leaving the tallow candle, by way of substitute, to throw some light upon our getting up ; and such a getting up. Did you ever, most amiable reader, turn out of a warm bed — in which you had just succeeded in generating a sufficient amount of animal heat to keep yourself comfortable — at a moment's notice, with a dis- agreeable journey before you and worse coming ; with the mer- cury, like your spirits, down ; a driving snow-storm without ; no fire within, and your miserable self in a night-shirt and — nothing else in particular ? If you have, sympathize with us. We A SOLEMN FACT. 99 did it, though — after an almost superhuman effort ; turned out, dressed, woke obliging landlord, paid unobliging Bill, in two senses of the word — that being the name of the porter ; and then sallied forth, carpet-bag in hand, into the dark night and wintry gale, to seek the spot where a glare of lanterns and the presence of sundry somnambulic black helpers, who looked like spirits of dark- ness amid the swiftly-falling snow, marked out the position of.the stage. And the stage, oh ! would you believe it ? the stage ! that solemnly promised real stage, turned out to be but another, and, if possible, a still more dilapidated " mud-cart," which looked for all the world like the identical vehicle in which we had rolled out from St. Charles, that is to say, if that " blessed institution n can be supposed to have been engaged during the period which had elapsed since our last meeting, in a succession of disasters from which it didn't appear likely to recover. But in good earnest, and all joking aside, this new imposition was what you might call a solemn fact, for it had been rent, and torn, and battered, to such a degree, and was, moreover, troubled with so many complaints, such as a leaning to one side, and a weakness in its wheels, not to dwell upon a tongue, which, though longer, was not half as serviceable as an old maid's, that it became a matter of pleasing uncertainty whether the mud-cart would, or would not, condescend to hang together, until it brought us to Inde- pendence. But as the stage was "going, going" and almost " gone," by the time we reached it, there was no opportunity for expostulation, so we tumbled in and kept our sorrows to ourself. And oh ! what a night — the very recollection of it prompts us to breathe a prayer that we " never shall look upon its like again," for the snow fell, and the wind blew, and howled amid the road-side forests, until the increasing storm seemed multiplied into the Retreat from Moscow, or Kane's journey to the Pole, as the icy particles came pelting in through every nook and cranny — and their name was legion — of our shackly old conveyance. It iOO HOG-CRAZY. would not have been easy to frighten us into better behavior by any Miltonian description of Pandemonium at that time. Oh ! no — we should have said, " How are you ?" to brimstone, and " Glad to see you," to fire. We are not even prepared to say, that we should not have taken the Old Harry's warmest claw, had he proffered it in good faith, or it may be, have gone the " entire animal," and, like Doctor Faustus, sold out altogether, for a considera- tion, and it would have been in our case, neither silver nor gold, but what, if rumor speaks true, might be a much easier bargain for Satan, for the thing we- wanted most, was to see a right jolly blaze. Nay, we would even have accomplished that which our : greatest general found difficult to perform, by facing "a fire in our rear," and charging the enemy right gallantly to boot, for through the dreary hours of that apparently interminable Decem- ber night, we suffered, in company with our balance of six inside, and one out, quite as much as any one, if we except, perhaps, an Esquimaux, ought to endure. And, oh ! how we longed for day- light, and wondered, as we skirmished for room with our neighbor's half-frozen legs, whether the dawn would ever come, until at length, in our despair, we lost confidence in the truthfulness of highly res- pectable watches, cursed the maker of the Almanac, and even swore, in the bitterness of our heart, that the State of Missouri was as far behind the time in her sun-rising as in everything else. But after all, we " hadn't ought to " grumble, for the long- wished for dawn came stealing in at last, and 9 o'clock, a. m. found us thawing out, under the moderating influences of a good fire, and what we have elsewhere termed a" bad hog breakfast," alias " four bits " worth of " choice selections." And here we may remark en passant (though we have already "cut and come again" upon this subject), that Missouri seems hog-crazy. The roads are blocked up with swine upon their travels, while little pigs squeal, and venerable porkers grunt, from corn-field and farm-yard, until the very air grows vocal with their music. It WESTPORT. 101 is, moreover, as we have already stated, " killing time," and as all swineclom is but pork, the flesh of these hapless beasts is served up to the yet more unfortunate traveller, until his soul sickens over his meat, and he is almost ready to declare himself a Jew, if he could thereby obtain a reasonable excuse for rejecting those too —too unctuous fragments, which are the never-failing accompani- ment of every road-side meal. But adieu — a long adieu, we trust, to the hogs, for we have matters of greater moment to chronicle. Westport, Monday, December \*lth. — We have passed Inde- pendence, which we had not seen, since we rode up to its brick tavern at two o'clock of an August morning, some eight years ago; but are now, as the date indicates, at Westport, a flourishing town, supported for the most part by the Indian and Santa Fe trade, and situated — oh 1 happy thought to us — upon the very verge of the Kansas frontier. We are at last within striking distance of our ultimate object ; for the residence of His Excel- lency, Governor Shannon, is, or has been, at the Shawnee Indian Mission, or Manual Labor School, distant some two and a-half miles from this place, where we had hoped to have talked over the " Kansas War " with the Governor, ere this, had not His Excellency been temporarily absent at Lecompton, a new- born Kansas city, which looks uncommonly well upon paper, and which we hope to observe for ourself ere we be a fortnight older. The Governor, as we understand, is now building at Lecompton, with the view of preparing a residence for his family, who are at present residing in the more tranquil State of Ohio. The latest bit of hear-say intelligence, in regard to the Kansas difficulties, comes to us to-day, in the shape of a statement, made by the youthful editor of a Pro-Slavery journal (that is just about to be). He says, that all parties are dissatisfied with Shannon, for the Governor would neither let the Missourians "wipe out" the Abolitionists on the one hand, nor would he 102 A GENEROUS OFFER. permit the citizens of Lawrence to resist Sheriff Jones, and set the Territorial laws at defiance upon the other, or, as we translate it, he committed the unpardonable error of endeavoring to pre- serve peace on both sides — about as difficult a task to accomplish, we fancy, in the bear-garden state of things then existing at Lawrence, as to attempt an interference between man and wife, from which folly from which may our good angel deliver us. December lSlh. — Though we still date from Westport, we may be congratulated, for we have not only seen, but entered the " promised land." Yes, it is even so, for our host, " old man Harris," as he is familiarly styled, evidently imagines, thanks to an old Army Commission of ours, and to something which he seems to have picked up in relation to our having come out special, that we are at the very least, a bearer of dispatches, or, per- chance, a Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Shannon, with documents from Washington to the Governor, containing full powers to hang, draw, and quarter, every Abolitionist in the Terri- tory; so he opened his heart toward us, and although, apparently not given to generous deeds, has offered us the loan of his private and particular mule, a clumsy, ill-made beast, with no amiability of character, to convey us to Shawnee Mission (Governor Shannon's residence), where, though his Excellency was absent, as we have already stated, at Lecompton, we could obtain ample information in regard to the probable duration of his stay, from the employees of the Manual Labor School. We, moreover, desired to carry our " news hunt," into the Indian range, and post our- self up in relation to the management, working, and apparent results of the Indian educational system, as pursued in these Missions, or labor schools, of which this Shawnee establishment is most probably a favorable exponent. With those objects in view, we thought proper to accept the offer of our good-natured landlord, who forthwith ordered one of " his niggers " to parade the animal, who proved, as we have WE ENTER KANSAS. 103 already hinted, upon a more familiar acquaintance, to be an ob- stinate, not to say sulky beast, with prodigious ears, and a short scraggy tail. We mounted gallantly, however, with a big stick by way of " persuader," for it's no use trying " moral sua- sion" with a mule, " Martin, on Animals," to the contrary, not- withstanding. Upon reaching the " State line," we felt, as somebody says, " the influence of the scene." So we reined in our long-eared steed, and considered the fearful responsibility which we were about io incur. We might be treated to a coat of tar and feathers ; we might be planted in the miry soil, a rich vegetable mould, of the Kansas Bear Garden, in which case, we should undoubtedly, have been carried " through a course of very re- markable sprouts." But we " didn't kear ;" we summoned up our resolution, knit our brow, hit the mule a thundering lick upon the ribs, murmured " let her rip," and then, like Mr. Caesar of old, plunged in, accoutered as we were, to Kansas and a mud- hole. The mule shy'd ; we regret it, for it upset our dignity considerably ; we have since, upon mature deliberation, been in- duced to suppose, that the beast being raised in Missouri, was- a Pro-Slavery mule, which would very naturally account for her unwillingness to enter Kansas. There was, we are compelled to admit, no particular sensation as " Our War Correspondent " crossed the line. No convulsions, no earthquake ; the trees stood firm, ditto the log-cabins ; the mud was as deep, the winter wind just as piercing ; in fact, the only things which appeared to be interested in our entrance were a two-year-old hog (that omnipresent representative of the largest commercial interests of Missouri), who poked his inquis- itive snout through a clurnp of wayside bushes, as if to say, " What new fool comes now ?" and a venerable old rooster, who welcomed us with a crow, which we were fain to interpret into an omen of good luck to come. May the divinites that " shape 104 WHIPPED EITHER WAY. our ends " grant it, for this going to Kansas in troublous times, to get the war news, is "skeary business." In sober earnest we begin to feel as the old Connecticut deacon did when his horse ran away down hill ; " he trusted in Providence until the breech- ing broke, and after that didn't place any particular dependence on anything." May not " the breeching " be almost broken with us ? Who knows ? 'Tis a fearful thing to contemplate ! Was ever newspaper correspondent in such a fix ? Stop, let's reconnoitre our position. If we "crack up" the Pro-Slavery men, the Free Soilers will make " no bones " of us in Lawrence. If we abuse the Border Ruffians, we shall (even without the stag- ing), never escape alive from the State of Missouri, and if we stride the fence, and don't do either, we shall be most particu- larly blessed by both parties, and for aught we know to the con- trary, by the New York Herald into the bargain. Well, be it so ; if we must succumb, we must, but as we live by hog-meat and bad coffee, we will kick vigorously to the last. MAS3A JOHXSOX 105 CHAPTER X THE SHAWXEE MAXUAL-LABOR SCHOOL. Axd now, to return, or rather to go ahead, we pressed on, and after some two miles and a half of hard trotting travel, with something to boot from taking the wrong road, " hove in sight," as the sailors say, of the Shawnee Methodist Mission, consisting of three long two-story brick buildings, with sundry cabins and out-houses, which, while they had rather a dilapi- dated appearance, looked as if they might be Western comfort- able inside. Upon reaching the board fence which enclosed a sort of flower- garden, just in front of the Superintendent's dwelling, we rode up to a tying-post, and having reined in our mule, who was, be cause he liked it, very willing to stop, we dismounted, hitched Long-ears so securely that he couldn't very conveniently run away, and then proceeded to arouse the inmates of the " most responsible looking " house, but as our knocking called forth no reply, save the growling of several ill-looking curs of low degree, who kept up a dismal racket in our rear, we made bold to walk in, the more so as the front door stood invitingly open ; but we traversed several rooms, got out of the back door, and finally wandered into the kitchen ere we lighted upon anything human, which, however, turned up at last, in the shape of a voluble old darky, with a bullet head, and elongated heels, who informed us that " Massa Johnson" (the Superintendent of the Mission), was not at home, and would not be back until night. 5* 106 A DUBERSOME DARKEY. " But who is ?" " Well, dars de man dat takes care ob de place wheu Massa Johnson's gwyne away." " Can't you find him, and let him know that a gentleman woul'd like to speak with him ?" " Well, dis hyar niggar's mighty busy just now, massa, s'pose I mout find him, though — 'spect I might try, but I'm duber- some about it." As this uncertainty was removed by a quarter, " the man who took kear ob de place " was found, and speedily made his appear- ance. Upon transferring our inquiries to him, we learned that Governor Shannon was, as we had previously understood, at Le- comptou, some fifty miles distant from Westport, whither he had gone to buy up some claims ; our informant added that the gov- ernor's son who is also his private secretary, and the Secretary of State, Mr. Woodson, were with him, but that the whole pauty were expected back in the course of a few days. After commu- nicating these facts, our new acquaintance, who seemed a plain well-meaning sort of person, and a strong Pro-Slavery man into the bargain, invited us into a sort of sitting-room, where we will venture to say that we asked him as many questions in five minutes' time, as if he had been undergoing a cross-examination by a Philadelphia lawyer (though for that matter, we are free to confess that we don't exactly see why a legal man, because he comes from the Quaker City, should be any keener than his bre- thren of the long robe, elsewhere), but be this as it may, here fol- lows an abridgment of the information elicited by our inquiries. The Shawnee Manual Labor School has been established for nearly twenty years ; at first, under the fostering care of the Board of Missions for the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church, in connection with the patronage of the general government. Latterly, however, as the institution grew better able to support itself, or it may be, as Uncle Sam became more liberal, that THE MISSION FARM. 107 amiable old gentleman has stood sole paymaster ; at present, under the treaty stipulations with the Shawnee Indians, the school receives the interest of one hundred thousand dollars, at five per cent, per annum, amounting, of course, to five thousand dollars ; that being the sum appropriated for educational pur- poses in the Shawnee Nation. To this income, may be added the earnings of the very large farm attached to the mission, which, at this time, consists of fifteen hundred acres of fenced land, of which, from six to seven hundred acres are under culti- vation. The soil being a rich loam, from twelve to fifteen inches in depth. During the past year they have raised upon this farm, one hundred and forty acres of corn, sixty acres of which grew eighty bushels of grain to the acre (not bad that, even in Kansas), and one hundred acres of oats, which yielded from thirty to forty bushels per acre. There is, also, a large vegeta- ble garden, and they have two hundred and fifty head of cattle, who, so far as the females are concerned, are very like the Dutch- man's cow of notable memory, which " gave very goot milk." The Institution is under the direction of a general superinten- dent, a school superintendent, and his assistant (to whom we are indebted for interesting information), and a farmer who oversees and directs its agricultural operations. There is, also, a superin tendent of the boarding-house, who was our informant in regard to many matters connected with his own department, as well as in relation to the history (for he is an old settler) of the mission. The buildings, as we have before stated, consist of thin, long, two-story brick houses, not very substantially built, and from pre- sent appearances, considerably in need of repair. As a summer residence they mi^ht be moderately comfortable, but as a winter one, and particularly in severe weather, they are, owing, I should say. to the shiftless way in which things appear to be managed, a most undesirable home. The arrangement too, for persons lodging there, are bad, as the boarding-house proper is some fifty 108 THE SHAWNEE RESERVE. yards distant from the dining-room or rather kitchen, in which the inmates take their meals. The children's school-house and dormitories are open to the same criticism, being about twice that distance from the main building. This mission is located upon the " Shawnee Reserve," a tract of land some twenty-four miles in width, by thirty long, which is secured to the nation by their final treaty with the United States government. This treaty gives two hundred acres, as soon as its survey is fully completed, which is expected to be the case by the 1st of July next, to each Shawnee Indian, whether man, woman, or child. These tracts are to be selected by the parties concerned, as nearly as possible to the vicinity of the individual's present residence in the Shawnee Indian Terri- tory. The choice to be made and declared within sixty days, or, as other authorities say, ninety, from the conclusion of the government surveys. Thirty thousand acres are to be reserved for non-resident Shawnees, who may come in to claim their share. The remnant of this (once powerful) tribe, now resident upon the Reserve, amounts, all told, to about seven hundred and fifty souls. The remainder of the " Shawnee Reserve " will then, if we understand the matter rightly, be thrown iuto the market to become subject to locations at the usual government price ($1,25 per acre). In view of these facts, we have been inform- ed that a secret society has been organized in Missouri, or rather in certain border counties of that State, for the purpose of settling the whole of this tract, as soon as it is made liable to entry, with bona fide Pro-Slavery settlers. This society, we learn, numbers nearly eight hundred men, who are pledged to each other to do all in their power to make Kansas a slave State, and to support the peculiar institutions of the South. We hear that they have already made very favorable arrangements with the Shawnees, as to the entry of these lands. This club may be regarded as an humble imitation, which will, however, RED-SKINS AT SCHOOL. 109 in all probability, accomplish quite as much as its progenitor, the Massachusetts Aid Society. The number of children at present under instruction in the Manual Labor School is about forty of both sexes ; among these are some half-a-dozen Wyanclots and one Arapahoe. Some of these children are orphans, placed here by their guar- dians, others have parents residing upon the Reserve. But few of these Indians are full-blooded, yet the physical peculiarities of their race seem strongly marked in each ; the dark, restless eye, the prominent cheek-bone, the straight, coarse black hair, and pigeon-toed gait being visible in all. These children pay seventy-five dollars per annum each, to the superintendent, as a receipt in full for board, washing, and tui- tion. Their instructor assures us that they will compare favor- ably, in mental capacity, with the same number of ordinary, every-day, non-precocious children at the North. They speak, as a general thing, no language but their own upon entering the school ; the first care of their instructor is, therefore, to teach them English ; this they soon learn to speak well, though a slight, yet not unpleasant accent seems in almost every case to betray their foreign birth. As children, they are playful out of doors, romping with each other in very un-Indian-like style, while in school they appear to be quite as mischievous as the offspring of the pale face. If they misbehave, the system of discipline is nearly the same as that formerly in vogue in New England. They do not, however, care much for any species of punishment, save that of the rod, a peculiarity which is appreci- ated by their teacher, who is a firm believer in that portion of the wisdom of Solomon, which says, " spare the rod and spoil the child." The branches taught are those necessary to a good Eng- lish common- school education. Their daily routine of life is as follows — at five, a m., they arp awakened by the ringing of a bell, when, if it be summer, 110 COPPER COLORED YOUNGSTERS. they do light work about the farm until seven o'clock, when they breakfast, a horn being blown by way of signal before each meal, which gives them ample time for preparation (if in the win- ter-time, their morning work, before eating, is confined to the pre- paration of fuel, milking the cows, some thirty or forty in all, and feeding the stock). At nine, the school-bell summons them to their studies, which are kept up, with a short interval for recess, until twelve, m. They dine between twelve and one o'clock, and then resume their mental pursuits until four. Their tea- hour is six, p.m., and their evenings are spent in the prepara- tion of lessons for the eusuing day until eight o'clock ; they are then allowed to indulge themselves in in-door recreation, until half-past eight sends them to their dormitories for the night. The only religious services which are held during the week are the reading of a chapter in the Bible, followed by prayer, just previous to the morning and evening meals. Saturday "fore- noon " is devoted to work, the afternoon is a holiday, and the evening is spent in the bath-room in " cleaning up for Sunday." The Sabbath is devoted to devotional services. As regards general character and temperament, the Indian pupils are accounted as generally docile, teachable, and good- natured. When sick, they are stupid and silent, have much fear, are easily depressed, and sink more rapidly, when prostrated by dis- ease, than the white. They quarrel but little among themselves ; in their juvenile attachments they appear to have a greater " affinity " for members of their own tribe, and would, we are told, resent an insult more quickly if coming from a child belong- ing to another. Indolence is their greatest and most beset- ting sin. In the little Arapahoe we felt particularly interested, as he is a full-blooded Indian, who came to the Institution as wild as a hawk, when he could speak but a very few words of English, and even these had been learned upon his way thither from a THE LITTLE ARAPAHOE. Ill white man, who had accompanied him from the hunting grounds of his tribe. The date of this juvenile's reception into the school, was the 27th of October, 1855, and in three days after his admission, he knew his letters perfectly — his teacher tells us that he now spells readily in words of one syllable. As regards their table — for we had not time to inspect the dormitories, we should say that, so far as quantity is concerned, the children fared remarkably well ; though the cookery, to our taste, was little better than an illustration of that oft-quoted proverb, which talks of Heaven's sending the raw material, and Satan's providing those who dress it. Of this we were well able to judge, as we had dined at the board of these " children of the Red-men," or, to speak more correctly, at one just like it, which is common to the superintendent and his family, as also to visitors, and the other officers and employees of the Institution. All things considered, however, these little aborigiues may regard themselves as being extremely fortunate ; for we could not but contrast their living favorably with our own early recollections of the " fashionable boarding school starvation system," which is but too frequently tolerated at the East. The superintendent of the boarding-house informs us that workshops were formerly attached to the Mission, where the pupils, in addition to their daily routine of studies, learned vari- ous trades. These, however, have of late years been discon- tinued, as it was thought better for the intellectual advance- ment of the children, that their minds should not be too much diverted from their books. They are not, for a similar reason, allowed to labor in the field or do any other than light work upon the farm. (It occurs to us that there might be another object in ,this prohibition, which is, to prevent a dishonest or interested superintendent from following* the example of that amiable peda- gogue, Wackford Squeers, who pursued the very practical system at his delightful academy for young gentlemen at Dotheboy's 112. AMALGAMATION. Hall, where youth " were " boarded, washed, furnished with pocket-money, &c. of teaching a boy a thing, and then fixing it upon his memory by letting him go out and do it.) These very general facts, in relation to Shawnee Mission and its Manual Labor School, are gathered in part from our own observation, for with true Yankee curiosity we visited, in oui pursuit of facts, the school-room, where we saw the Indiat children at their desks, and heard them recite, and we car assure the reader, that (physical peculiarities excepted), thej seem, to our eyes, to differ but little from any " district school' interior, which educates the juveniles of some New England village, amid the green valleys of Connecticut, or the rocky hill; of the old " Bay State." For we saw one youngster munching an apple, with an occasional side-look at the master and his rod another doing anything but a sum, unless the sum had a nos( and a mouth, with a crest of eagle's feathers upon its head while a third tried hard to post up her neighbor, a very stupid looking Shawnee, as to the correct reading of some forgottei arithmetical rule, while the urchin in question stood scratching his head, and looking woefully perplexed, as he tried in vain t( catch the muttered information in time to answer promptly. Finally, then, as touching the interior economy of the Shawne* Mission, this school is said to have done a vast amount of gooc among the Indians, for whose benefit it has been instituted We are informed by those interested in the establishment, tha a number of the female pupils who have grown up and receive( their entire education at the Mission (for there are several ol them), have, on graduating, married well. Some of them t< white men, and in their after lives done credit to its training apropos to this, we understand that a relative of the presen superintendent (Mr. Johnson), was united in matrimonial bond with one of these fair descendants of the very oldest inhabi tants, not many months ago. SHAWNEE BELLES. 113 And here we may remark, that so far as our own taste in such matters goes, although some of the Shawnee girls, now members of the school, are called pretty, we have as yet been unable to discover this alleged beauty in these copper-colored damsels. Their manner of walking, for instance ; is ridiculous, indeed it was with the greatest difficulty that we refrained from laughing outright, as we saw them file out (on a signal rap from their teacher's fork), at the dining-room door, for the only thing which we can think of as approximating to their peculiar gait, might, perhaps, be a lame, and very short-legged duck, if you can suppose so common sense a bird to be attempting an imita- tion of the last fashionable " teter " for young ladies. Add to this, that they stoop, have round shoulders, no figure at all, and "too much color" in their faces, and then if you be a connoisseur, sing their praises, if you please — a la Longfellow's " Hiawatha," 114 DRUNK-IN-A-BLANKET. CHAPTER XI. RED-SKINS AND INDIAN YARNS. The people of the Shawnee Nation, particularly those whc have been educated at the Mission, are said to be industrious, hard-working farmers ; and as a general thing, peaceable, law- abiding citizens. As a practical commentary upon which, it is pretty generally admitted, that some nine or ten of their " war- riors " tendered their valuable services as " fighting men" to the good people of Lawrence, during the late difficulties ; and on dit that a portion of the Delawares, with a number of the Sacs and Foxes, followed this very " law-abiding " example. As to the "Delaware offering," they are said to have been such enthu- siastic Free State sympathizers, that a few of them insisted upoD going to Lawrence, where they remained about town " talking big, and drinking whisky," so as to be on hand if Pro-Slaverj and Free Soil should come to loggerheads. It is, however, but justice to the people of Lawrence to add, that they (in cominoi: with the Pro-Slavery party, to whom other Indians offered theii cooperation), declined to accept the assistance of these volun- teer aids. In other matters, as regards their character and moral pro divides, we can but judge from a very superficial observation ol such " S2oecimens v as chance threw in our way, and these usuall} turned up in the shape of something-drunk-in-a-blanket, with i very loud voice, and a very guttural notion of using it. Tli< INDIAN ECCENTRICITIES. 115 nissionaries speak favorably of them, and we are not disposed ;o gainsay either the honesty of these gentlemen, or their supe- •ior opportunities for becoming acquainted with the fact ; but ,ve do declare that if an inquirer should say to us, " Mr. Corres- pondent, what do you think of the proclivities of the Shawnee Nation V we should answer candidly : " Very bad." For if nedical men speak the truth, a great proportion of the Indian yomen in Kansas, not only want chastity, but are afflicted with liseases, so loathsome, that modern prudery forbids that we ihould even give them a name. One physician, indeed, remarked o us. that he regarded a visit which a party of the Caws had •ecently paid his town, a very small one, by the way, as being mite a handsome sum in his pocket ; " For," said he, " they :amped near us, stayed two months, and increased my practice :>y nearly four hundred dollars. " And if merchants are to be redited, a respectable pickpocket, with a good city reputation, hould bear a very fair character among an assemblage of these •opper-colored braves. It is reported, for instance, that a Caw vill steal the blanket off your back, while you are saying how- lo-ye-do, to him ; and unless Dame Rumor do some of the Sacs nd Foxes foul injustice, your eye-teeth would not be safe in your :cad, should any of these amiable gentlemen take a fancy to hem. Apropos to these little thievish traits of Indian character, . gentleman from Lecompton tells us that it is no uncommon lung among "the traders," for a red-skinned customer to enter . store with plenty of money in his pocket, make his purchases, nd then turn coolly round and inform the individual from whom ie has bought, that " Me no money now — bimeby kill deer — squaw dress skin — ell 'em — then Ingin plenty money — then come pay." " Well, but what does the trader do then — will he wait ?" ueried we. " Do 1" said my informant, " why, he upsets him, pulls off his 116 MAJOR RAMROD'S ADVENTURE. blanket, takes away his money, helps himself to his due, an< then lets Mr. Indian walk with the balance, if there be any i his favor." Since we are upon this very original subject, we may as we relieve ourself of a frontier yarn or two which we have picke up among the Indian agents. The first of these was related t us by a friend whom we shall call Major Ramrod, for want of less military sobriquet, who used to tell the story as a veritabi extract from his own personal experiences, while acting as th Government Indian Agent for a certain tribe who (as we wis to preserve his incognito), shall be nameless. It runs thus : ; Some two years ago, in the course of an official tour, I ha occasion to visit, for the first time, a remote portion of the tribi over whose interests I held jurisdiction. I had ridden hard, bi the way was long, and it was not until the close of a warn sultry, August day that I approached the creek, or, as they ca it in the Territory, river, on which the Indians with whom desired to confer were encamped. Upon trotting up, howeve to their lodges, or temporary shelters, which had been erecte upon the edge of the prairie, and outside the timber of the ' riv( bottom,' I found no one to answer my call ; for though tb fires were lighted, and a piece or two of deer-meat basting ove the coals, their camp seemed deserted, save by two or thre mangy, ill-favored curs, who yelped spitefully, but at a mo: respectful distance, as I rode in. Judging, however, from thes signs of recent occupation, that those whom I sought must b somewhere in the immediate vicinity, I dismounted, and havin hobbled my mule, turned her loose to graze, while I sat down t await the return of the Indians. Of this, however, I soon weariec for as you know, solitude doesn't agree with me, nor is Robinso Crusoe-ism my forte, so it was not long ere I turned my back upo the lodges, and strolled leisurely towards the heavy timber whic marked the location of the stream, through which, after som %' • % ml BEAUTY UNADORNED. in ainbering over fallen logs, and an occasional botheration from slew, I finally made my way, and was already in sight of its ood-embowered waters, wlien, mingled with the rippling of the viftly-flowing tide, I fancied that I heard a distant shout, and ? I paused to listen, it was repeated with an unction which made le presence of some near neighbors no longer a matter for ques- od ; so following the direction of the sound, as I was guided f its reiteration, I passed on, until a sudden bend in the river rought me full in view of about as primitive a bathing-party as id ever been gotten up since "The good old days of Adam and of Ere," es, there they were, papoose, and squaw, and warrior bold, all isily engaged, though up to their necks in the stream, in kicking d a pow-wow, that reminded me strongly of some fashionable ach-scenes, which I have witnessed, during 1 the season/ at ewport and Cape May. " But to my tale — it required but a glance at these copper-eolor- l bathers, to assure me that the whole party was in that very un- ual condition which is most decently expressed by intimating at they were in a ' state of nature,' and furthermore, that e softer sex was largely represented, and being — don't laugh — iite a modest man, at least in those days, I was for retreating th all convenient speed, until these fair belles of the wilder- ss could find time to make a more elaborate toilet ; but as I rued, like Joseph of old, to shame Satan and fly, my ears were luted with a sound of hi ! hi ! coupled with some unpronoun ble gutturals, which signified, as I afterwards learned, " Brother, 10 are you ?" This degree of relationship, however, was in- untly changed, upon their discovering who I was, into a cry • "How do you do, father?" that being the title (our friend \s about two and thirty years of age), by which the Indian is customed to address the agent of his tribe. But the courte- 118 OUTRAGED DIFFIDENCE. sies, alas ! were not destined to terminate here ; no, they soo let me understand that they would give me a still warmer we come, and verily, if a popular agent was ever received with t the honors by his charge, I certainly was that day. For, im gine my feelings, my outraged diffidence, perhaps (quit yo laughing now) I should rather say, when I tell you that t redskins, one and all, matrons, wives, and maidens included — t latter, between you and me, being foremosu in the race — serai bled out of the creek, and then, all unaccoutered as they wer with their huge mouths full of guttural welcomes, and not a n upon their sun-tanned backs, they rushed into my arms and a most smothered me with a succession of embraces which left d dripping like a newly-washed Newfoundland dog, and as fc the Eve-like squaws — but I draw a veil over my sensations- come, let's step into the grocery and take something- to drink. Having imbibed, the Major next proceeded to enlighten us e to his "adventures" upon returning to the Indian camp, with distinct understanding, however, that the female barbarians ha gotten their rigging on in the meanwhile, or we should bav most respectfully _ declined to jot down another of our frien Ramrod's " little incidents." " I presume that you know something of Indian cleanliness if you don't, and should ever think of returning to the Rock Mountains, I should advise you to keep clear of their cooker at least until it is upon the board, and even then, if you wi take 1 pot luck ' with them, don't scrutinize the platters, an above all, use your own table tools, come what may." We intimated to the Major that we had once dined with Eutaw chief, off a "notch potch" of stewed grass-hopper? au lizard's tails ; and Ramrod went on, " Well, I reckon then, as you have travelled some, that I ma run the risk of spoiling your supper by relating the first of number of annoyances which bedevilled me during my stay i HARD TO SWALLOW. 119 what I shall name, for convenience sake, the Bathing Indians' ^amp ; for you "must know that, upon my return to their lodges, [ found myself somewhat fatigued from the excess of hospitality which I had so recently undergone, and being thirsty withal, I jegged one of the squaws to give me a drink of water — " (Here, we looked up, and having closed our right eye, threw )ur head a little to that side, gave a long whistle, and at the :ame time pointed significantly with our thumb over the left houlder.) " Well, can't you wait until I have finished the sentence ?" ried Ramrod, half peevishly, in answer to this pantomimic inter- aption ; " come, don't be poking fun at a man until he gets hrough ; I didn't say that I intended to take it raw ; but you've ut me out ; let me see, where was I ? Oh, now I recollect, I had ust asked the squaw, a good-looking half-breed by the way, to et me some cold water. So, being an obliging girl, she half filled small tin pail with the element and placed it beside the buffalo- )be on which I was placidly reclining. I had taken up this ater-holder and was just in the act of qualifying it with a mod- um of prime old rye whisky from my ' private tickler,' when it ruck me that the tin pail might be a great deal cleaner ; so I ade bold to suggest an amendment in this respect, to the cop- ;r-colored damsel, who forthwith emptied the pail and was iping it out with a wisp of freshly-gathered prairie-grass, which e had pulled for the purpose, when an old chief, who had therto sat quietly by my side, where he had been, to all ap- arances, completely absorbed in the enjoyment of the pipe-full i tobacco with which I had supplied him, sprang suddenly to I feet, and interrupted the operation by snatching the utensil < t of her hand, at the same time telling the woman, in their liguage, that she must be a fool, that white folks were particu- 1' and liked everything very clean, but that if she watched him, 8) would know how to clean a drinking vessel another time, in 120 DUCKING A BABY. a manner which would satisfy even the most fastidious pale fac So suiting the action to the word, while the squaw looked on mute admiration, and I, if the truth be told, in considerab meutal distress, he seized the tin pail with one hand, while wit the other he cast loose his breech-clout, and then, oh, horror o horrors ! proceeded to polish most faithfully, the inside of t! vessel with this somewhat exceptionable garment. Is it n cessary for me to add that I went supperless to bed that night And now, stranger, wonH you take another drink ?" We will add a paragraph here, which might very properly 1 headed, " A real blessing to mothers and nurses," or an infallib receipt to stop babies from crying whether or no, and then w shall say farewell to Mr. Ingin, at least for the present. We had noticed that Indian babies didn't cry ; we had see these cunning-looking, hairless, black-eyed, dear darling littl angels (we quote from enthusiastic young unmarried ladies now as they hung in a most neck-breaking fashion from their mother backs, with their heads poked out of the Mackinaw blanket-folc (in which the little innocents were enveloped to an extent whic threatened their speedy suffocation), so as to admit of their pee] ing over the maternal left shoulder ; but still no cry, no whin per — no, not even with a cholic to provoke it — gave notice ths little How-wow-bob-er-ry was in pain. "But why," methiul we hear the inquisitive reader exclaim, " was this ? Was tl long-named cherub dumb ? Had the pretty copper-colored pi been tongue-tied from the hour of its birth ?" Oh, no, nothii of the sort ; it had been better trained than the child of tl pale face, that's all ; for the wigwam is a stern school, and tl Indian a most impartial teacher ; and little How-wow-what-d you-call-him, though not yet twelve moons old, knows bett than to squall, for his infant memory still retains the recolkcti< of a time when his first unlucky squall was greeted by a due ing ia the nearest creek, administered by his papa, that ce CRYING BABIES. 121 brated warrior, Wont-stand-any-such-humbug ; and his second by ditto repeated, until he had learnt to reason from his former aquatic experiences that the same thing might happen again. So the " recollections of the past," all sombre though they be, warn him to " keep a stiff upper lip," even though he don't " feel jolly." From " all of which and singular " you may per- ceive that as " a burnt child " is said to " dread the fire " upon this side of the Mississippi, so a ducked one may fear the water, upon the other. And, finally, under this head, we would, with all due deference, beg leave to recommend this system of immer- sion to indulgent mammas in general ; for. they may rest assured that there is nothing like Hydropathy for converting a " squall- ing brat " into " a treasure of a baby." And upon re-reading what we have just written, we are con- vinced that the Temperance people, at least, should think well of us ; for, have we not given the reader three most undoubted cold water yarns, all duly strung together like a flock of wild geese (let us hope that the simile ends there), and what is more to the purpose, a moral to each — if one could only hunt it out? So much for our first visit to the Shawnee Manual Labor School and its inhabitants. 6 122 KIT CARSON. CHAPTER XII. / NEWS-HUNTING IN WESTPORT. We got back to our Westport "inn" rather inexpressibly mule sore, an hour by sun, and straightway " dropped round town" into various shops {or, as we Americans call them, "stores "), and so forth, with our ears wide open and our note- book at hand ; nor was our news-hunt in Westport less suq- cessful than that in which we had been engaged at the Mission • for we " bagged " the following from an old frontiersman, who had seen our friend Kit Carson — the Kit — in October last ; and it may interest those who have read of his wild adventures " by flood and field," to know that Kit Carson of the Rocky Moun- tains — the hero of many a border-fight and romantic expedi- tion — has at length " settled down for good." Yes it is even so ; for our Nimrod of the West has laid aside the rifle and bowie-knife to take up the yard-stick and scales ; and now, instead of sending hostile Indians to their long account, he is sending long accounts to them. "lis true he charges still, and we doubt not as freely as before ; but these attacks are only on his customers ; and if he "posts a man," he does it in the ledger. But a truce to punning — for we hate a pun — the more so as it is rumored that those who perpetrate such things " would even steal a sheep and as we have little desire to be charged with mutton-thieving, we will tell you in so many words, that Kit Carson keeps a store, or, as they say out West, " is engaged AUBREY. 123 in selling goods" in the city of San Fernando del Taos, New Mexico, where, as our informant states, Carson has entered into partnership with a Mr. Maxwell, a gentleman who, if we remem- ber rightly, was himself an " old Mountain man." The style of the firm is Carson & Maxwell. We were, moreover, pleased to learn that Kit has been restored to his office of Indian agent, from which he was for a time suspended by order of the Governor of New Mexico. From all that we could gather in relation to the difficulty which led to his suspension, we understood that Carson had directed some sheep belonging to the Mexicans to be killed for the use of the Indians — under what circumstances we were unable to discover. This drew forth a complaint from the Mexicans to the governor, who called Carson to account ; and finally got into a difficulty with the old mountaineer, in which the latter played a very inde- pendent part. The whole affair was then referred to the proper authorities at Washington, and there settled (as we should judge from the result), in the pioneer's favor. Kit talked of coming to "the States " this fall, but has deferred it until ano- ther year. From Carson the conversation very naturally turned to poor Aubrey, who, as the reader doubtless knows, was recently killed in New Mexico, where he fell, after braving death in every form, by the hand of an American, and in a private quarrel. It is not generally known that Aubrey rode, in the fall of 1848, from Santa Fe, N. M., to Independence, Mo., a distance of 115 miles in five consecutive days, and sixteen hours. But in his anxiety to perform a feat which no man has yet equalled,.aud in all human probability never will, h& nearly sacrificed his life to his ambition, for on arriving at his journey's end, he was literally lifted from his blood-stained saddle. We remember meeting Aubrey at the crossing of the Arkansas in the summer of that year j he was then just returning from a similar ride, which he 124 SECRET MILITARY ORGANIZATION. had made in something less than eight days. In person, Aubrey was a small but very active man, all bone and muscle, just the figure for such an expedition — for who doesn't know that there's no telling what a little man cannot do when he tries ? We met a prominent Free State man, a correspondent of the New York Times, here to-day, who is on his way out of the country. This gentleman gives us the following in regard to the Secret Military Organization of the Free State party. He says : that it extends through the States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Northern Michigan, from which some fifteen hundred fighting-men were already on their way to assist the citizens of Lawrence, when a settlement of the difficulties there, rendered the presence of a reinforcement unnecessary, and induced them to turn back. From which it would appear, that " the hour and the man " of Free State-ism, or Pro-Si a very-ism, for we can scarce say which, is yet to come. We hear too, from the same source, of a serious misunder- standing between Generals Robinson and Lane, the Free State leaders. Its origin was thus : It seems, that after the settlement of difficulties in Lawrence, it was thought proper to give a supper and ball, at the Free State Hotel, or Eldridge House which is to be, to celebrate the happy termination of the Waka- rusa War, and hail the advent of M Those piping times of peace,' as Shakespeare has it. Now this ball was free to all comers. Indeed it was not only a jollification, got up without distinction of party, but a sort of soothing plaster to cement the blessed re-union which has just been consummated between Free-Soilism and Pro-Slavery, and heal the wounds of all parties concerned. Among other distinguished personages, General Robinson tea- dered a special invitation to the Pro-Slavery sheriff, of Doug- las County (Jones), a person at that time highly obnoxious to THE SHERIFF'S INVITATION. 125 the Free-Soilers, who regarded him as being little better than a fit emissary of what they looked upon " with as favorable eyes as Gabriel on the Devil in Paradise " — the so styled " Bogus Legislature." After - tendering this invitation, and receiving Jones's acceptance of the same, General Robinson went back to the supper-room, and then asked (which we fancied might better have been done at first), if it were agreeable to the company present that Sheriff Jones should attend ? to this an almost unani- mous cry of " Yes, let him come," was the response. When General Lane got upon his legs, and made what we have heard styled a very inflammatory speech, in which he stated that he had talked with a committee from three of the Lawrence com- panies of Free State Kansas Volunteers, who had declared that the men of those companies would not be present, if Jones was permitted to become a guest. This called forth a shout of " Keep him out then." In answer to this, Robinson imme- diately rose, and expostulated with those present, at the same time pointing out to the malcontents, that he had invited Jones, who must therefore be considered their guest, and as such entitled, by every law of hospitality, to courteous treatment at their hands. To this Lane replied, by stating that he " had rather a million of Joneses should stay away, than that one of his men should be prevented from coming." He then went on to speak of the killing of the Free State man Barber, making use of this unhappy circumstance as a theme well calculated to excite the indignation of his hearers. General Robinson then declared that Jones should come, or he himself would stay away, where- upon, our informant adds, high words passed between General Lane and himself, which ended in Robinson's going up to the room in which Jones was stopping, and reiterating his invita- tion. Jones, having, in the meantime, heard of the opposition to his being present, declined the supper, but upon being urged by the Free State General, accompanied him to the ball, where he 126 THE LION OF THE EVENING. was introduced to several of the Lawrence belles, who, by the way, are strong politicians, and even more belligerent in their Wakarusa War notions, than their Free State "lords and mas- ters." And thus it was that the very pugnacious Jones became the lion of the evening, and the cynosure of every eye. It is eveu hinted that one of the fair ladies present intimated a desire to see hun safe home, that is to say to Franklin, a distance of four miles, which, with the mercury at zero, and at two o'clock in the morning, strikes us as being a very masculine undertaking. The Missourians are reported to have fought shy of this festivity, as a general thing. And it is even hinted that one of the Free State Volunteers, who must have been little better than a beast, avowed his determination to murder Sheriff Jones in cold blood, as he entered the ball-room. It is on record, however, that he didn't shoot, and we sincerely trust that if he had, there would have been manliness enough in the soldiers of the Free State Volunteers to have taken the fiend out of doors and hung him upon the nearest tree, and we believe, moreover, that it would have been done. GOOD BYE TO WESTPORT. 127 CHAPTER XIII. WE JOURNEY TO LECOMPTON. And now we will resume our quotations from our letter en route : House on the Prairie, near Lecompton, K. T., Bee. 20^, 1855. We left Westport, Mo., at 9 a. m.. yesterday, in an open wag- on loaded with doors, carpenter's tools, bedding, etc. (this being the first conveyance to Lecompton), with the understand- ing, duly entered into between ourself and the driver, that we should walk up the bad hills and down the steep ones, which, as it was no more than we "have been doing for the benefit of Smashup, Breakdown & Co.'s humbug of a stage-line, ever since we left St. Louis (not to mention packing a rail), seemed no very great hardship. We had for company on the road, beside the driver, who had been " raised in Illinois" (where he had followed the example of that eccentric Westerner who swore, that if a man hadn't a right to get the chills in a new country, he hadn't a right to do anything ; and very nearly shaken himself to death in carrying out the principle), an Empire State man, a very seedy specimen, going to seek his fortune at Lecompton (which, as your readers ought to know, has been selected as the capital of Kansas), and a certain Mr. Stewart, the recently appointed superintendent of Public Buildings at that place. These, with your very humble servant, "Our Correspondent," made up the 128 THE SOLITARY GRAVE. complement of bipeds. As for the animal motive power, we had a couple of rat-like "Ingianny" horses, of which our driver seemed particularly proud, though for what particular good qua- lity it was impossible to say, and a short-tailed mule of Stewart's which did duty both as a riding-animal, and as a leader to our team, when a steep hill required an extra effort. At 2 o'clock, p. jr., we halted at Donaldson's, a Kentuckian who married the daughter of a Shawnee chief (Captain Parks), and is therefore entitled to reside upon the " Indian Reserve;" his dwelling, a new stone house, just erected at a cost of $2,800, is, for " these diggin's," quite an aristocratic affair, being two stories in height, with doors, windows, and such like luxu- ries, and wonderful to relate, lathed and plastered inside. Here we dined, at " two bits" (York shillings) per head, on hog-meat and wild honey, and then progressed, feeling, so far as our indi- vidual self was concerned, considerably better, on our way to Bean's Hotel (?) on Wakarusa Creek, where we proposed halt- ing for the night. As we journeyed slowly on, our friend Stewart pointed out to us a rude wooden enclosure, standing solitary and alone, upon a ridge of the prairie ; " There," said he, " I witnessed a strange ceremony last spring. The friends of an Indian brave, whose spirit had sought the hunting-grounds of his fathers, were bury- ing their dead out of their sight beneath yon snow-covered mound. As I rode up, the interment had been completed, and the mould filled in. The horse of the dead chieftain was then led forth and shot beside the grave, with a favorite hound of ' the deceased ; for it is the custom of their people, when the red man goes forth upon that unknown trail, to send his fleetest steed and faithful dog to bear him company." During this day's travel our way lay, for the most part, over long rolls of up-swelling prairie, with here and there a long line of timber, marking the location of some creek, or bottom land ; SNOW-CLAD PRAIRIES. 129 but as a general thing, the earth boasted neither bush* nor shrub. Poets who eulogize what Bryant styles " — The gardens of the desert, For which the speech of England has no name, should ride over them — as we have done to-day — in the teeth (and they ought to be aching ones) of this December blast, on the top of a loaded wagon, with their eyes a fountain of waters, and their noses an indigo blue, and we will venture to say that they would quote from Shakspeare as we once heard an Irish- man do, and declare with practical Pat, that " a prairie is divil a bit better than jist flat, stale, and unprofitable." We know that " Our Correspondent " found it so, for as the sud went down, and the biting gale came sweeping over the long, unprotected "rolls," we would have given all the romance of strange travel in a yet stranger country, for the e very-day crea- ture comforts of a warm room and a hot supper. Yes, we will be candid ; be it confessed, then, that we shivered, and shook, and played the old Harry's tatoo with our chattering mastica- tors, until, between " the influence of the hour," and the indi- gestion naturally arising from a hog and honey dinner, we got the blues — grew desperate — wished Kansas, " the war," and the New York Herald in that extremity, and your humble servant, the writer, safely back again in the " Empire State." But "Bean's Hotel," brought us up handsomely at eight, p.m., and we assure you 'that we had not taken our half-frozen body out of the wagon over half-an-hour before we thawed out, and, unlike Mark Tapley — who was always doing well under "depressing circumstances" — " turned up jolly" under the genial influences of a big log-fire, and a hot cup of coffee. But we should do the reader, ourself, and mine host, Mr. Bean, an injustice, if we neglected to describe his " hotel," 6* 130 bean's hotel. inside aud out. It is a log-cabin, or rather two log-cabins, with a connecting link between, in the shape of a porch, which is ob- tained by continuing the flooring and room, but omitting the sides ; to either end of this Siamese twin house is attached a huge- chimney, of such tremendous dimensions, that it quite carried out an idea which we heard hazarded once by a certain Miss Biddy O'Rourke, of " a house built to a chimney ;" but fuel is cheap in a new country, and there are worse things after a long day's ride than a heaping wood-fire, with its sparkles and flashes of light, and its great red coals, which peep out like fiery eyes ; not to mention the glowing pictures which the day-dreamer fan- cies, as he watches, with thoughtful brow, the upward course of the glowing sparks ; and then for furniture (for we always love to locate ourself to the reader, even at the risk of being taken for an upholsterer on a tour), we have a pile of books, a chest of drawers, antique — a table, very shaky — a big bed, quite primitive in its way — a little ditto, which, with a small armory of rifles and other murderous utensils, complete the inventory. And then there's the group around the fire ; but it would require too great an effort to do them justice, and moreover, if we re- member aright, we have already given the reader " a taste of our quality, " in the way of fireside descriptions ; so we won't repeat the dose, at least at present, the more so as we are in honor bound to write Kansas, and really " nothing shorter." A truce then, to any description of character, be the originality ever so striking, or the temptation ever so great ; suffice it to say that we slept that night the sleep of a weary man, on a feather, bed, with a buffalo attachment (where we dreamed of Rocky Mountain snow-drifts), in a thorough draft, with a door half a foot too short on one side, and an insecure window, whose glasses were absent without leave, upon the other ; and so ended our first day and night in Kansas. In the morning, we breakfasted and started betimes, so that FRANKLIN. 131 in spite of our snail pace motion, we reached the town of Frank- lin about noon, where, as our orders include, " the industrial and agricultural prospects of the new Territory and its people," we obtained the following "facts," which we give you as they were told us, having first, to guard against misrepresentations, de- ducted twenty per cent, for any personal interest which our in- formant might have had in settling that particular vicinity. Franklin, Kansas Territory, is what the geographer would call pleasantly situated on a somewhat prominent hill or prairie ridge. It was first settled by one Wallace of Iowa, in October, 1853, but permanent buildings were not commenced until June of the present year. As regards the value of land, town lots, sixty by one huudred and twenty feet, bring, according to loca- tion, from $25 to $100, although, for that matter, we should much prefer to buy at a less rate, and at a greater distance from the main body of the place, for we understand that the whisky-drinking and gambling propensities of the good citizens of Franklin are pretty generally known. Timber, principally oak (various kinds), and black walnut, is to be had in present abundance, at the distance of a little over a mile from the town. Excellent water may be obtained by digging to a depth of from twenty-five to thirty-six feet ; but these wells sometimes go dry. For building purposes, pine lumber may be obtained at Kansas city — the nearest point — at a cost, including trans- portation to Franklin, of $80 per thousand feet. Agricultur- ists say that the yield of corn in that vicinity — first crop — taking a range of two miles from Franklin, has been sixty bushels to the acre, in lands on the Wakarusa bottom, and twenty-five bushels in sod on the prairie. A two-story frame building, forty-two by thirty-two feet, comfortably furnished inside, has just been put up at a cost of $1,400. .We were afterwards invited to attend a house-warming upon the completion of this dwelling by its owner, who very kindly offered to send a conveyance to Law* 132. INTERESTING TO EMIGRANTS. rence, where we were then stopping, to bring us down, and we regret that our engagements and the severity of the weather should have prevented us from seeing a social fandango in Frank- lin, where, to do the people justice, they are said to get up those sort of things in very good (frontier) style. But to return. There are some twelve houses and cabins built or in progress of erection. The population of this place is from seventy-five to one hun- dred souls. It is a strong Pro-Slavery town, and furnished a large quota — nearly sixty men — to the Governor's forces for " the War." It has a steam saw-mill of eighteen horse power. The citizens claim to have had no cases of that great Western bug-bear, the all shaking fever and ague, as yet ; but we should say that the location, with the large swampy bottom in its vici- nity, was favorable to the production of swamp miasmas. Franklin is distant by some thirty-eight miles from Westport, Mo., fifty-five from Independence, three from Lawrence, and fifteen from Lecompton, the capital of Kansas Territory. We are indebted to Mr. Stewart, our fellow traveller, for much useful data in re Kansas and her prospects. The following " facts and figures," which have been derived in part from the gentleman just alluded to, and others well qualified to give accurate information, may, we think, bo regarded as reliable, and, we trust, prove useful to those who contemplate " moving into the Territory." These calculations, it should be remarked, will apply equally well to a large portion of Eastern Kansas. Day laborers command $1 35 per day and find themselves ; mechanics from $1 75 to $2 00 per day, without board ; wash- ing — as there is a lack of females as yet — is high, say $1 25 per dozen; single-team wagons — calculating the average day's travel at twenty-five miles — may be had at from $4 50 to $5 00 per day. You may reckon thirty bushels to the wagon. Fencing FACTS AND FIGURES. 133 may be estimated, where you hire the labor, at $4 00 per hun- dred rails ; this includes everything, splitting, hauling, and set- ting. Though authorities differ upon this point, we should say that it would be a saving to the emigrant if he were to purchase his building materials, fully manufactured, in St. Louis, and transport them to the site' selected. When we say building materials we mean doors, sashes, frame-work, flooring, &c. It is not only a saving in the transportation of bulk, which of course is greater in the undressed material, but the difference in the prices of labor, lumber, &c, will, in the present state of the market, make a saving upon the articles purchased in St. Louis of nearly 20 per cent. Frame houses, which are built entire in St. Louis, or, to speak more properly, their components, have already been transported to Kansas for erection, at a considerable saving to their owners. For instance, the Auditor of the State, Mr. Donaldson, has such a house at Lecompton — it is two stories., high, has two rooms in the lower, being lined with dressed pine boards inside, and there are two rooms above, say sixteen by eighteen feet each — which cost its proprietor when finished including transportation by steamer to Kansas City, and from thence by wagon to Lecompton, $800. We are told that in many parts of the Territory concrete is the cheapest building material ; it can be put up at an expense of fourteen cents per cubic foot. This speaks well for the building stone and quarries of Kansas. It costs about $8 00 per acre, lowest estimate, to " improve a claim." Of the claim system, so universal in our Territories, we shall speak more fully elsewhere. Under the same head fall 14 squatter laws " and " preemption rights." And now, having given the reader this much of sober dollar and cent facts, we will go on with our pencillings by the way. At one, p. m., as we rolled up "a rise," our delighted though THE PROMISED LAND. somewhat mad-blinded optics beheld for the first time the far- famed city of Lawrence. How shall our feeble pen express our sensations ? We gazed upon the scene as did the patriarch of old when he beheld the promised land. But in good earnest we felt a deep interest in Lawrence ; and as we watched her snowy banner floating in the breeze, we snuffed up the pure, albeit some wliat freezing gales of the prairie with a keener relish, and mur- mured " This air Lawrence." We didn't apostrophize her, because we didn't feel equal to the task. We didn't curse her, because the inhabitants of that city are stern republicans — "black" though they be — and we have the fortune — good or bad as it may be — to hail from the Knickerbocker State. We didn't drink her health, because Stewart was out of whisky ; but, though we didn't say much, we followed the example of the sagacious bird, the owl, in keeping up a think; and what we thought, shall be chronicled as soon as, in Missouri phrase, we "get shut of Kansas." To be serious, however, Lawrence — even without taking into consideration her high military repu- tation — is " considerable of a town," above which that " large stone building," the Kansas Emigrant Aid Society's Free State Hotel — that is to be — loomed up pre-eminent. We would fain have approached to do it reverence ; but as we were pushing on to Lecompton, to confer with his Excellency Governor Shan- non, and as the wagon wouldn't stop, we were compelled to postpone our pilgrimage to this political shrine until a more convenient season. So, like the Priest and Levite, we passed by upon the other side, and mouuted the steep bluff, which reaches down to within five hundred yards of the main body of the town, and which, in a military point of view, commands the place. But we won't be so uncivil as to handle Lawreuce in a military manner here ; no, let her glory in her boasted strength, until we get an oppor- tunity to fire our paper-bullets at her earthen " breast-works," LECOMPTOX. 135 when we expect to prove (we don't mean hope) that Lawrence can be taken, and badly taken to boot, her Sharpe's rifles and Kansas Brigades to the contrary notwithstanding, in something less than two hours, by the wateh. At three p. m. we entered the woods, where the capitol of Kansas Territory, partly is, and principally is to be, and drove up to a shanty that covers a sort of " general store," wTiich will doubtless expand itself with the progress of the place. Upon the stoppage of our conveyance, we picked a "soft place," — no diffi- cult matter, for the noon-day sun had began to thaw the frozen ground — and jumped off, to the no slight detriment of our " boots." Upon alighting, and entering the store, which seemed to contain a little of everything, but more particularly cheese and corn whisky, we were introduced by our friend Stewart to a " small crowd " of very frontier-looking gentlemen, a little rough on the outside, but evidently very good fellows for all that Upon making inquiries for " the Governor," we were informed that he was making his residence, during his stay, at a " House on the Prairie " — the residence of Major Clarke, Indian agent for the Pottawatomies — distant some three miles from Lecompton. We were accordingly just "putting out" upon friend Stewart's mule — which he had very kindly placed at our disposal — when a letter-posted informant suggested, that the Governor and Secretary of State, Mr. Woodson, were in another part of " the town," which he designated. Upon the receipt of this intelligence, we mounted, and rode through a piece of woods, found the "other part of the town," consisting of two houses, and the Governor, who made his first appearance to our eyes in the form of a stoutly-built, elderly gentleman, clad in a rusty suit of black, with iron-grey hair (and if the governing of Kansas is not enough to turn any man's hair grey, we don't know what trouble would), under a most "dilapidated tile." He was sitting upon a white horse, a la General Taylor — or as the 136 NEW FRIENDS "great unwashed" delight to call him, " Old Rough and Ready" — and looked dignified, as a Governor should, but good-natured withal. So we felt emboldened, reined in our mule, made oar politest bow, and presented our credentials in the shape of the letter of introduction from the distinguished ex-Senator already alluded to. The Governor dropped his bridle, put on his spectacles, read the document in question, and then shook us warmly by the hand and welcomed us to Kansas. Then turn- ing to the Secretary of State (Woodson), who was riding at his side, he gave us the initiative to an acquaintance, which we afterwards took great pleasure in cultivating. We then rode down together, to the residence of Dr. Rodrigue, a promi- nent citizen of Kansas, who has informed himself thoroughly in relation to the natural resources of the Territory ; with. Doctor Rodrigue, we found Sheriff Jones. We found him rather a fine-looking young man, of some eight and twenty years of age, or thereabouts, who, unfortunately for our young lady friends, is married to a very nice wife. Well, we shook hands with these new friends, and then pursued our way, in company with Woodson and the Governor, by a short cut, to " House on the Prairie," where we arrived in safety, as the sun was going down, and met a hearty reception from its inmates. After supper we entered into conversation with Governor Shannon and his private secretary — a son of the Governor's, whom we were introduced to at Major Clarke's — upon the multiplicity of matters which our duties, as a newspaper corres- pondent, make it our province to investigate, and the Governor very kindly promised to give us a history of " the war." THREATENINGS. 137 CHAPTER XIY. HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. And now it seems proper to say something of Major Clarke, from whose hospitable mansion we are writing, as well as to put the reader in possession of some of the dangers to which " Our special Correspondent " may be exposed, while pursuing his vo- cation even in the pacific and law-abiding Territory of Kansas. To go back " to the beginning," Major Clarke (who is from Arkansas, where he formerly edited a paper, and was a member of the State Legislature), has taken, or has had the credit of having taken — which, with an enemy, always comes to the same thing — a very decided Pro-Slavery stand during the recent dif- ficultes in Kansas. He was, moreover, one of the two men — his companion being Colonel Burns of Weston, Mo. who fired upon Barber and his party. These acts have made him particularly obnoxious to the Free State men of Lawrence, and as his residence is within eight miles of that town, he has been repeatedly threatened with violence, in proof of which the fol- lowing may be stated. Even before Barber was killed, a party of some ten or twelve Free State men, armed to the teeth, surrounded Mr, Doak (a brother-in-law of the Major's, who resides with him), as he was returning home from Lecompton, and told him that, " Now was the time that they were going to have the difficulty with Major Clarke settled ; that he, the Major, could not live f with many similar expressions. 138 A LATE VISITOR. Since the death of Barber, a party of some twenty men stopped at the dwelling of Judge Wakefield (a prominent Free- Soil politician, who has since figured upon both their regular and irregular tickets), on the California trail, some three miles distant from Major Clarke's, and there swore, in the presence of a certain " Squire Crane — 'a very reliable man ' — that "Clarke should not live ; that he must die," alleging at the same time as a reason, that Clark was with the party who killed Barber. Barber's two brothers were said to have been with these men. In addition to these matters, of which Major Clarke has at various times been notified, it may be mentioned as an additional proof of the hostile intentions of his enemies, that a Doctor Johnson, a son of the present governor of Virginia, who has been residing at " House on the Prairie," for the last two weeks, ■ — his own dwelling being in the immediate neighborhood — to assist in defending Clarke's house from any attack that might be made upon it, has been fired upon no less than three times, the ball — upon the last occasion — passing through his coat. The circumstances under which these attacks were made are as fol- lows : In the first instance, which occurred just after Dr. John- son arrived at " House on the Prairie," three suspicious-looking men rode up in front of Clarke's house ; this was after nightfall. To ascertain their intentions and business there, Doctor Johnson stepped out into the yard and hailed ^hem ; to this they returned no satisfactory reply ; the Doctor then fired upon them with his pistol, upon which two of the strangers wheeled about and returned the fire, after which they immediately rode off. No person was hit, so far as could be ascertained, upon either side. Upon the second occasion — which dates back to the Monday preceding our visit — Doctor Johnson was walking up from Benicia, some two miles from Major Clarke's, and when about midway between the two places, a man mounted upon a grey SHOOTING AT A DOCTOR. 139 horse, rode out from the bushes, and called out : " Is your name Dr. Johnsou ?" to which the Doctor answered, " Yes." The man replied, " Then you are the rascal I have been waiting- for f and immediately fired upon him with a pistol — for this would-be assassin had no gun— the ball, as before stated, passing through the skirt of the Doctor's coat. Before the Doctor could draw his pistol to return the shot, the man had ridden off and disappeared in the brush. Dr. Johnson begins to grow superstitious about these repeated attempts to take his life ; he says that they come nearer and nearer every time, and he' fears that the next attempt will be successful. Major Clarke's residence has now been regularly guarded, for upwards of two weeks ; loaded rifles rest agaiust the walls, and w six-shooters '' lie " handy " upon the tables. Some of Clarke's Pro-Slavery friends are constantly there, and if an attack be made, the assailants may count upon a most desperate resistance. There is hardly any room to doubt that if an overt act be com- mitted in this quarter, a war of extermination would be the result. For, were Major Clarke's residence to be molested in his absence, the Missourians would be almost certain to cross the frontier, and level Lawrence with the ground ; at least, such is the impression of those best qualified to judge. To give some idea of the state of excitement and apprehension which exists among the members of the Major's family, we may mention, that Major Clarke has already fired upon, and wounded one of a party of his friends who were approaching his house, late in the evening, under the impression that they w T ere enemies. Indeed, a knock at the front door this very evening caused a muster of the "tools," and it was not until the name and busi- ness of the stranger were fully understood, and deemed pacific, that the door was (even then), cautiously opened for his admis- sion. For ourself, we are free to confess, and we don't care who 140 THE GUARDED HOUSE. knows it, that we shall, during our stay in Kansas, deny onrself the luxury of moonlight rambles, or the pleasure of paying visits after sundown. The annexed letter will come in very properly here. It is a communication from Major Clarke to Governor Shannon, dated from House on the Prairie, which he sometimes calls Camp Clarke, and addressed to His Excellency, at Shawnee Mission. The following is a literal copy :— Camp Clarke, Dec. 3, 1855. Dear Sir : — I hasten to write you by an express that is now on its way (12 o'clock at night). My house is a fortification. I am compelled to keep a guard with sentinels all night. Unless the violators of the law are dis- armed, the country is ruined. If the troops should withdraw without this being done, a partisan war will continue. Murders, house burnings, and all the outrages incident to civil war will follow ; or we (the law-abiding men) will have to withdraw from the Territory, to our great pecuniary dis- tress. The outlaws have marked our men. They keep their movements secret, and we know not who is first to be attacked, or when it will be made. We have learned, upon ample authority, that more than one hundred Sharpe's rifles are distributed in the immediate neighborhood. My next door neigh- bors have them in possession, and only two days ago ten armed men sur- rounded a member of my family with threatening language, and ended the interview with a threat to dispose of myself. We, the law abiding men, appeal to you, and insist that nothing less than the surrender of the arms now held by the traitors can satisfy the community. They are in open rebellion — they have their arms for the special purpose of resisting the laws and avenging supposed injuries — with these arms they have already forcibly rescued prisoners from the hands of the officers — they threaten to rescue others ; they are protecting men who have broken custody, and in every sense they are traitors, and giving :.id and comfort to traitors. In haste, your friend and obedient servant, George W. Clarke. To Governor Wilson Shannon, Shawnee Mission. A DEPLORABLE TRANSACTION. 141 Major Clarke, it should be remembered, has been for the last three years (as Indian agent of the Pottawatomies) an officer of the general government, stationed in the Territory. He is represented as being an impetuous, and highly excitable, but withal, kind-hearted person ; a democrat and ultra-Pro-Slavery man in his politics ; in fact, what is usually called a thorough- going Southerner. It is admitted that the Major was one of the Pro-Slavery men who took part in that unfortunate rencounter, which resulted in the killing of the Free State man, Barber. The following may be regarded as a correct statement of the circumstances attending this deplorable transaction, as we have learned them from the most reliable Pro-Slavery authorities. For the Free State versions of the affair, we must refer the reader to the narratives of Barber and Pierson, the brother and brother-in-law of the deceased, which will be found under their proper head. We should also remark, that we finally obtained an account of the matter from Major Clarke himself, but as this paper has been unfortunately lost, we are compelled to give his side of the story as it has come to us, through a person to whom he related the alleged facts ; it is, however, substantially the same, if we mistake not, as that which we received from Major Clarke. On the f th of December, at noon, Major Clarke left the Pro- Slavery camp at Lecompton in company with a party of its leading men, among whom were Major General Richardson, com- manding the Militia of Kansas, Judge Cato of the Supreme Court, and Judge Woods of the Police Court of Douglas county. These gentlemen were going, in compliance with the request of Governor Shannon, to confer with his Excellency at the Waka- rusa camp. While on their way, they perceived a party of three mounted men coming from the direction of Lawrence ; and as verbal I 142 THE BARB EX, HOMICIDE. orders had been issued to arrest all suspicious persons, it was proposed that an equal number should be detached from their party to intercept and question these people ; and if their answers should prove unsatisfactory, arrest them. This sugges- tion was about to be adopted, when Colonel Barns of Weston, Mo., one of the persons selected, said : " Why do we want so many ? — two of us are enough to take these vile Abolitionists, anyhow." Burns and Major Clarke were accordingly detailed, and rode out to overtake the Free State men. This they did ; and, after halting them, a conversation ensued, in which the Free State men not only declared that there was no law nor order in the Territory, but declined to surrender themselves, in compliance with the demand of Clarke and his companions. Upon this, both parties commenced drawing their arms — that is to say, with the exception of one of the Free State men (who was most probably the man killed) ; this person sat upon his horse a little apart from his companions ; he had a switch in his hand, but drew no arms, nor did he appear to have any. Both parties " squared to each other," and fired — pistols being the only weapons used. On the part of the Pro-Slavery men, Clarke was armed with a small five-inch Colt's revolver, while Burns had a Navy revolver, which is heavier and carries a much larger ball. After exchanging shots, the Free State men galloped off. Burns proposed to send a "long shot" after them from his rifle, but Clarke objected, saying, " Let them go." Burns is said to have admitted, that he thought he hit the man whom he fired at, as he saw him press his hand to his side, or, as others state it, " Saw the fur fly from his old great coat.'' When the Lawrence men rode off, they showed no appearance of being hurt. Clarke declares that he had not the slightest sus- picion that they had wounded one of their antagonists, until news was brought at a late hour that night to the Waka- rusa camp that a Lawrence man had been killed in this ren- major Clarke's statement. 143 counter. It was rumored, that upon the receipt of this intelli- gence, Colonel Burns left the camp and returned to Missouri ; this, however, is incorrect, as both Burns and Clarke remained with the Pro-Slavery faction until the termination of the Law- rence difficulties. Neither Clarke nor his companion knew any of the men with whom they had this fight. There was, therefore, no per- sonal malice nor previous quarrel between them. It seems proper to add, that Major Clarke not only does not wish to shun a thorough judicial inquiry into his own conduct in this affair, but actually desires such an investigation. He is, more- over, willing to abide by the result. It is understood that the Major is at present at St. Louis, upon business connected with his Indian agency, but will shortly return to his residence near Leoompton. And now, as our letter is already of the largest we will for- bear further writing until General Whitfield's mules shall have hauled us to Shawnee Mission, for we have accepted an invitation to accompany the Governor to that place, from whence we hope to date our next epistle. 144 THE GUBERNATORIAL MANSION. CHAPTER XV. THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE AT SHAWNEE MISSION. I am writing in the Executive office, and for that matter, the private bed-room, public parlor, library and general sanctum of his Excellency Wilson Shannon, Governor of Kansas Territory. Now, as some of your readers may suppose that to be Governor of Kansas is a very high, very mighty and very easy office — a sort of sinecure, in fact, where the favored incumbent wears "purple and fine linen," and "fares sumptuously every day" — I will take the liberty to dispel the illusion, and convince the boldest visionary that the Governorship of Kansas is a reality of the sternest kind, by a pen and ink sketch of our present surroundings ; and remember, too, that this is the most respon- sible looking building which we have as yet seen in the Territory, built of brick and of considerable dimensions. Well, to locate the Gubernatorial apartment — it is some twenty feet square, has a door opening out upon (that Ameri- canism) a "piazza;" also a window, with a vis-a-vis of two windows, which look out upon a picket-fenced back yard, a hill-side and some trees. The windows are shaded by faded chintz curtains, which, even in their original freshness, never cost a fortune ; a double curled-maple four poster, which assists the sleeping of the Governor and his private secretary, occupies one corner of the room ; a wash-stand that even a " fashionable Biddy " would look askance at, stands opposite ; betweeu the MOST PARTICULARLY DEMOCRATIC. 145 two, a little table, a crooked looking-glass, and a huge pile of lawbooks, fill up " the aching void f while a rusty stove, with its rustier pipe, warms one-half of the apartment, which is, however, kept even more than comfortably cool by the ill-hung door, that lets in more air than a regiment of patent ventilators ; in medias res stands a larger table, littered with piles of public documents, newspapers, and writing materials, with a blue Mackinaw blanket by way of covering, on which 11 Our Special Correspondent" is at this moment driving a pen ; the corners and sides of the room are piled up with books — law predominating. Everything, in fact, bespeaks the residence of one, who cultivates the brain rather than the body. The Territorial seal, which, with a-half gallon of Marquand's ink, and an old pair of breeches, occupies a box at the foot of the bed, is all that tells of the power vested in its occupant. Add to this, that the floor is uncarpeted, and the walls more than slightly dilapidated, and I think that the reader will coucur with me in pronouncing Wilson Shannon the most literally democratic Governor in these United States. For Durself, we are willing to go even a step farther, and declare that if :he " sovereign people," after such convincing proofs of his stern 'epublicanism, don't make him next President, they will do them- selves and everybody concerned rank injustice. I bade farewell to our hospitable friends at House on the 3 rairie, near Lecompton, from whence our last letter was for- warded early yesterday morning, and w r e regret to add that we departed with a sad foreboding that ere we met again their •leasant home (which, as we stated in our last, had been threat- ned with violence) ; might be- made the scene of strife and loodshed, for suspicious persons were heard moving about the lace during the night, and we, ourself, at about two o'clock in le morning, heard distinctly the trampling of a horse, and the iugling accoutrements of its rider, as he twice rode round the oase. The day, even for December, was intensely cold (the 7 146 THE SECRETARY OF STATE. mercury standing at zero) ; the landscape looked cheerless in the extreme, and the sky grey and wintry. But our team, with a long ambulance attached (the whole belonging to General Whit- field, now in Washington), proved a good one ; and the vehicle, which, like most ambulances, or "prairie wagons," as they call them here, proved rather airy, was made comfortable by wrap- ping ourselves in buffalo robes and moccasins. So witli the Governor's private secretary (Mr. Shannon), for a driver, we rolled out upon the road, with the Governor occupying a seat beside his son, while the Secretary of State, his little boy, a bright-looking youngster of nine, and " Our Correspondent," crowded the inside of the conveyance. If we except a halt at Bean's, where we ate a primitive din- ner of waxy-cold biscuits, and that external " hog meat," which, if possible, was colder than the bread, and some few gettings out to walk at bad places — for the natural roads of Kansas Territory proper, are equal, if not superior, to any in the world — there was little to interrupt the shivering, wearisome monotony of our ride ; for though men may be companionable in stagiug it at the start, their conversational intercourse generally terminates, unless you do some " leg stretching," with the first twenty miles, when the travellers, in most cases, subside into a gloomy, misan- thropic, half dreamy state, which lasts until a halting-place thaws them out. But as our friend Woodson, the Secretary of State, did talk to us during a portion of the trip, and as Wood- son began life by sticking type in " old Virginny," and ended his adventures in that section of country by becoming the editor and proprietor of a journal in Lynchburg ; and as Woodson is a clever fellow, who knows how to tell a good story w T ell. we know that you will be pleased to get the derivation of those much quoted " Westernisms " — Lynch law and bowie-knife— as we heard them from his lips. Lynch law owes its title to a certain Squire Lynch — a sten JUDGE LYNCH'S COURT-HOUSE. and uncompromising old patriot, who lived during " the times that tried men's souls," on his plantation, distant some three miles from the present site of Lynchburg, Ya. It was the cus- tom in those stirring days of the Revolution, for his neighbors, when they caught a tory, to bring the unlucky culprit before Squire Lynch,. who at once organized a court of his own selec- tion, in which he himself was judge, jury, and counsel for the prisoner. If the crime were proved, he would proceed to pass sentence, by awarding from fifty to one hundred stripes, to be well laid on ; or, it may be, even a graver penalty, in proportion to the magnitude of the offence. And it is note-worthy, that as this was a court from whence there was no appeal, few thought of preaching " higher law," or taking exception to his Honor's findings. Our informant adds, that the old man's memory is still greatly revered in that section of the " Old Dominion," while his descend- ants are justly reckoned among those highly respectable people, "the first families of Virginia." A grandson of the Judge, Charles H. Lynch, Esq., still resides upon the paternal estate ; and a venerable oak, one of the real old settlers, is even now pointed out to- the curious, as the canopy under which Judge Lynch held his rough and ready court ; those who have seen it, say that the notches are still visible upon its moss-grown trunk, vhich, in " old lang syne," kept the cords from slipping, while he tory got his dose. The town of Lynchburg takes its name rom the Judge, and it is rumored that the grandson would ooner lose an arm than part with the old homestead and its tory- launted tree. The bowie knife yarn is simply this : — Mr. Sam Bowie, who ■itronized Arkansas in those good old times when Arkansas as what it used to be, being "curious" in his style of fighting, ranted tools to suit himself. He therefore invented a singular nife, which he wore inside his coat back, and as this peculiar 148 THE ORIGIN OF THE BOWIE KNIFE. instrument gained a wider and bloodier popularity, it took the name of its originator, until the bowie knife has outlived the recollection of a man who knew how to use favorite weapon as well as any citizen of the once far-famed Territory of Arkansas. Our next paragraph should be headed " How a Governor and his Suite Look while Travelling in Kansas." And how they do look ! You should have seen His Excellency Governor Shannon yesterday, as we footed it up a steep hill at Wakarusa Creek. The Governor was ahead ; he sported, what a New York " b'hoy " would have termed a " most shocking bad hat,'-' while his great coat and continuations looked almost as rusty as the country-built boots, which had evidently known no blacking for a week. Add to these habiliments a red worsted comforter, with the ends tucked in at the breast, and a pair of buckskin riding-gloves, and you will have a very precise inventory of the Governor's outer man upon that memorable occasion. As for the Secretary of State, he was " deil a bit better off for clothes" than his chief ; in fact, he himself affirmed that he looked more like a M Border Ruffian " than any of us. ■ The private secretary w r as an improvement on either, and we natter ourself that your humble servant, the writer, was the most fashionably (to quote from Toots) " got up " individual in " the crowd," and even he didn't cut a very insinuating figure with a smashed-up cap and a pair of gray breeches turned up over his boots — to say nothing of the butt end of a six shooter and the nozzle of a whisky flask which peered out suspiciously from either side-pocket. To complete the picture, add, forms doubled up with the cold, watering eyes, blue noses, frost-pinched cheeks, and such like " compliments of the season," and we will add no more on this head. GROWING SERIOUS. 149 CHAPTER XYI. ' THE PRO-SLAVERY SIDE OP THE KANSAS WAR. And now it is high time to be serious. We must really "quit poking fun" at Kansas, at least for this letter. Gover- nor Shannon has been kind enough to state the facts as they have come to his knowledge, in relation to the rise, progress, and temporary termination (for we are but too fearful that the pre- sent calm is but a lull in the wild conflict of contending factions) of the unhappy difficulties in this Territory. We believe that we are in possession of the main chain of evidence ; for the details, we must refer the reader to the accompanying affidavits, letters, and official despatches, which, with statements taken down by " Our Correspondent," would seem to place the " Pro- Slavery party " in a generally favorable position. The genuine- ness of the documents presented may be implicitly relied upon, as they have been carefully copied by ourself from the files at the Territorial Executive office. In giving the Governor's narrative of events, which we have taken down from his own lips, we disclaim any responsibility for the subject matter,, beyond the mere style of its composition. We therefore ask an impartial hearing for Governor Shannon's statement of facts in relation to the late troubles in Kansas Territory, as he has derived them from his own personal observation, or the deposi- tions, correspondence, and verbal statements of reliable, men of both parties in and abor.< the Territory. 150 HICKORY POINT DIFFICULTIES. He says : — " On or about the 24th of November, 1855, a difficulty occurred between a Pro-Slavery man of the name of Coleman, and a Free State man named Dow, in relation to "a claim this resulted in a rencounter, in which Coleman killed Dow. This gave rise to considerable excitement among the Free State people in that neighborhood, which is known as the Hickory Point settlement. In this place there are about one hundred Free State, and fifteen or sixteen Pro-Slavery, families. The excitement ran high, and the Free State men threatened to take Coleman, try, and hang him, without any legal judicial investigation, by a court and jury of their own. "There were also among the settlers at Hickory Point two men, named Buckley and Hargis. They were Pro-Slavery men, friends of Coleman, and witnesses to the difficulty between him- self and Dow. Some two days after the killing of Dow, a party of seventy-five men — a majority of whom resided in and about Lawrence — went to Hickory Point, to the residence of Hargis, and demanded of these friends of Coleman what their testimony in the matter would be. They repeated the circumstances as they intended to relate them. To this these Free State men, who were all armed with Sharpe's rifles, replied (at the same time cocking their guns and pointing them at the breasts of Buckley and Hargis), " What you say is false ; the circumstances are not so. We give you until Monday to make a correct statement of the facts. If you refuse we will kill you." This was on Saturday. Before the time given had expired, tbe Free State men burned down the houses of Buckley, Hargis aud Coleman. In so doing they turned the family of Buckley out of doors. This family saved nothing of their wardrobe or furniture but the clothes in which they fled." The following affidavits of Buckley and Hargis will come in very properly here — Buckley's affidavit. 151 AFFIDAVIT OF HARRISON W. BUCKLEY, IN RELATION TO THE RESCUE OF BRANSON, AND THE DIFFICULTIES, HOUSE-BURNINGS, ETC., AT HICKORY POINT. United States of America, Territory of Kansas, ss. Be it remembered, that on this 6th day of December, in the year A. D. 1855, personally appeared before me, J. M. Burrell, one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of said Territory of Kansas, Harrison Buckley, of lawful age, who, being by me duly sworn, saith that he is a citizen of the County of Douglas, and has resided therein since 30th day of March last, and has resided during all that time at Hickory Grove ; that he was informed on good authority, and which he believed to be true, that Jacob Branson had threatened his life, both before and after the difficulty between Coleman and Dow, which led to the death of the latter. He under- stands that Branson swore that deponent should not breathe the pure air three minutes after he returned, this deponent at this time having gone down to Westport, in Missouri. That it was these threats, made in various shapes, that made this deponent really fear for his life, and which induced him to make affidavit against the said Branson, and procure a peace war- rant to issue and be placed in the hands of the Sheriff of Douglas County. That this deponent was with the said Sheriff (S. J. Jones) at the time the said Branson was arrested, which took place about two or three o'clock in the morning. That Branson was in bed when he was arrested by said Sheriff ; that no pistol or other weapon was presented at the said Branson by any one. That after the arrest, and after the company with the Sheriff had proceeded about five miles in the direction of Lecompton, the county seat of Douglas County, the said sheriff and his posse were set upon by between thirty and forty men, who came out from behind a house, all armed with Sharpe's rifles, presented their guns cocked, and called out asking who they were, when said Branson replied that they had got him a prisoner, and these armed men called on him to come away. Branson then went over on their side, and Sheriff Jones said they were doing something they would regret hereafter, in resisting the laws ; that he was Sheriff of Douglas County, and as such had arrested Branson. These armed men replied that they had no laws, no Sheriff, and no Governor, and that they knew no laws but their guns. The Sheriff, being over- powered, said to these armed men that if they took him by force of arms he had no more to say, 'or something to that effect, and then we rode off. This deponent further states that there have been three houses burnt in 152 HARGIS'S AFFIDAVIT. the Hickory Grove settlement ; one was this deponent's house, another belonged to Josiah Hargis, and the third to said Coleman. All I had in the •world was burnt up, leaving my wife and children without clothing. This deponent's wife and four children fled to Missouri, where they still remain with their relatives. The house of deponent was burnt down, as it is said, shortly before daylight in the morning. The -wives and children of both Coleman and Hargis also fled to Missouri, where they still remain. There were about fifteen or sixteen law-abiding families in the settlement called the Hickory Grove settlement about the time these differences sprung up; they have all been forced, by terror and threats of these armed men, to flee with their wives and children to the State of Missouri for protection, and still remain there. These armed men have repeatedly, in my presence, said that they would resist the law by force, and that there was no law in this Territory. These threats have been repeatedly made by these men for the last three months. And further this deponent saith not. H. W. Buckley. Sworn and subscribed, the day and year above stated, before me, J. M. Burrell, Associate Justice Supreme Court, Kansas Territory. Here follows the Affidavit of Josiah Hargis, a Pro-Slavery man, and a member of the Sheriff's fosse at the time of Bran- son's rescue from Sheriff Jones.- AFFIDAVIT OF JOSIAH HARGIS IN RELATION TO THE RESCUE OF BRANSON, AND THE DIFFICULTIES, HOUSE-BURNINGS, ETC., AT HICKORY POINT. United States of America, Territory of Kansas, ss : Be it remembered, that on this Vfh day of December, A. D. 1855, per- sonally came before me, S. G. Cato, one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Kansas, Josiah Hargis, of lawful age, who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that, on or about the 26th day of November, 1855, in Douglas County, Sheriff Jones called upon him, with nine others, to act as a posse to arrest one Jacob Branson under a peace warrant issued by Hugh Cameron, Justice of the Peace ; that he proceeded with said sheriff to Hickory Point, in said county, and there arrested said Branson, with whom they proceeded in the direction of Lawrence ; when near a house on the Wakarusa an armed mob, amounting to between thirty and forty men, rushed from behind 6aid house, and by force did rescue. said Branson out of the hands "6f said sheriff and posse, and, in HARGTS's AFFIDAVIT CONTINUED. 153 defiance of said sheriff's command, did take said Branson, and refuse to deliver him to said sheriff; that the said sheriff told the said mob that he held said Branson under a peace warrant, properly issued by a legally authorized officer, and that he was sheriff of said county of Douglas, and charged with the execution of said writ. The leader of said mob replied to said officer that they knew him as Mr. Jones, but not as sheriff of Douglas County. He then told them that he would call put the militia to enforce the law. Their reply was that he could not get men to enforce said laws. He told them then, that he would call on the Governor for assistance, to which the said mob replied that they had no laws and no officers, and to pitch in. Said mob stood with their guns cocked and presented at the time of said rescue. This deponent further saith, that one H. W. Buckley, of said County of Douglas, was with said sheriff at the time of said rescue, as one of said sheriff's posse ; that, during the same night on which said rescue was made, said affiant saw a light in the direction of said Buckley's house, and that he fully believes said house was at that time being burned ; that he believes, from circumstances within his knowledge, that said house, toge- ther with his own, was burned by persons concerned with said mob ; and that he has reason to believe that some of said houses were fired by said Branson aforesaid, assisted by a German commonly called Dutch Charley, and that they were counseled and advised thereto by one Farley. This affiant further says that, at the time of the rescue of said prisoner, he was at a house near Hickory Point, and that he there saw three women who told him that there had been an armed force there that day, who had noti- fied them to leave, and all other Pro-Slavery families in the neighborhood, since when said families have left said neighborhood and fled to the State of Missouri. Said affiant further says that he believes there were at that time in said neighborhood about fifteen Pro-Slavery families, nearly all of whom have fled as aforesaid to the State of Missouri for protection. Said armed force was represented to consist of from one hundred to one hun- dred and fifty armed men. And further this deponent saith not. Josiah Hargis. Sworn and subscribed before me, S. G. Cato, associate Justice, Supreme Court, Kansas Territory. [Iv ote. — The number of these men was probably exaggerated. There is also a discrepancy in the two affidavits as to the direction in which the 7* 154 IRRITATING CAUSES. Sheriff's party was going at the time when this rescue is alleged to have been effected. One deponent says towards Lecompton, and the other seems equally positive that it was Lawrence.] " Terrified by these lawless proceedings, the.sixteen Pro-Slav &m families residing at Hickory Point fled with their women and children into Missouri, where their accounts of the treatment to which their friends had been subjected, excited the most intense indignation among the Slaveholders of that State. From these stories, exaggerated as they spread, and it may be too highly colored by their original narrators, the impression became cur- rent throughout Missouri that the Free State party of Kansas, armed with Sharpe's rifles and revolvers, intended to expel the Pro-Slavery men from that Territory. It is alleged that such threats were made by individuals of the Free State party ; but as they do not appear to have come from responsible persons, it would be unfair to infer that this is the avowed purpose of their party. In the meantime, Buckley, Hargis, and Coleman — who had fled so soon as they could escape from the band who were threatening their execution — made their way to the Execu- tive office at Shawnee Mission, K. T., to have an interview with myself. I was absent at the time. When I returned, Coleman had surrendered himself to the Sheriff of Douglas County (Jones), who happened to be at the mission. Buckley and Hargis stated their grievances to me, and informed me that a man named Bran- son, of the Free State party, and one of the residents at Hickory Point, with whom Dow (the person killed) had resided, was the leader of the band who had threatened and endeavored to extort false evidence from them. Upon these representations, I ad- vised Buckley to go before a magistrate, or any judicial officer of the Territory, make affidavit to the facts as regarded the threats of Branson, obtain a peace-warrant against him, and thus have him bound over to keep the peace. As Sheriff Jones was about starting with Coleman in custody, and Buckley and Har- sheriff Jones' affidavit. 155 gis in company, on their way to obtain a peace-warrant against Branson, an express arrived from Hickory Point, which had ridden all night, advising Coleman and his two friends not to return to that settlement, as they would certainly be killed by the Free State party. Sheriff Jones, with much difficulty, and by guaranteeing their safety, at length succeeded in persuading them to accompany him to Lecompton, the county seat of Douglas County, in which all these difficulties had occurred, and from whence it was of course necessary that the peace-warrant should be issued. On his arrival there, Buckley, in pursu- ance with my advice, went before a justice of the peace — ■ Mr. Cameron — made affidavit against Branson, and obtained a peace-warrant, which the justice placed in the hands of Sheriff Jones for execution, who immediately summoned a posse of ten men (citizens of Douglas County) to serve the writ." The affidavit of Samuel J. Jones, sheriff of Douglas County, which we introduce here, will put the reader in possession of the facts connected with the rescue of the prisoner Branson from his posse, as alleged by the Pro-Slavery party. It will be perceived that the sheriff's deposition is corroborated for the most part, by those of Buckley and Hargis. AFFIDAVIT OF SAMUEL J. JONES, SHERIFF OF DOUGLAS COUNTY, K. T., IN RELATION TO THE RESCUE OF HIS PRISONER BRANSON, AND THE CONDUCT OF THE FREE STATE PARTY IN LAWRENCE. United States of America, Territory of Kansas : Be it remembered, that, on the 7th day of December, A. D. 1855, per- sonally came before me, S. G. Cato, one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Kansas, Samuel J. Jones, Sheriff of the County of Douglas, and Territory aforesaid, of lawful age, who being by me duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that on the 26th day of November, A. D. 1855, he received from the hands of Hugh Cameron, a legally 1^6 JONES' AFFIDAVIT CONTINUED. appointed justice of the peace for said County of Douglas, a peace-war- rant issued by said justice of the peace, and to him directed as sheriff, obtained upon the oath of one H. W. Buckley, against one Jacob Bran- son, and immediately after receiving said warrant he summoned a posse of ten men and proceeded to the house of said Branson, and made the arrest, and on* his return he and his posse were met by a mob of some forty men, armed with Sharpe's rifles, who forcibly rescued the prisoner out of his hands, and defied his recapture, swearing at the same time that they recognized no law in the Territory, or no officers, from the Governor to the lowest officer, and relied only upon their rifles as the law of the land, and would at all times defend themselves from being arrested by any process issued by any officer of the said Territory ; that he immediately made requisition on Governor Wilson Shannon for a sufficient force to arrest the said Jacob Branson, and execute other process in his hands as sheriff of said county ; that the said Jacob Branson was taken into the town of Lawrence, in said county, and there, as he verily believes, as he was informed by good authority, tried and acquitted by the citizens of the said town, without any legal investigation ; that a mob of some fifteen or twerty threatened to tar and feather and inflict other punishment upon the justice of the peace who issued the warrant ; that he, as sheriff, has been repeatedly insulted by the citizens of the said town of Lawrence, and threatened with violence if he attempted to execute any process in his hands against any citizen of that place, and he verily believes that he would be resisted, and violence committed upon his person, in attempting to execute a legal process in said towm ; that v the citizens of that place and vicinity are all armed with Sharpe's rifles for the avowed purpose of resisting the execution of the laws of this Territory ; that they are daily being drilled for that purpose alone ; that the mob who rescued the said Jacob Branson out of his hands, he verily believes, were induced to do so by the citizens of Lawrence, and that the public newspapers of that place openly recommend and call upon the citizens to resist the laws of the Territory, and that the prisoner, Jacob Branson, and a portion of the mob who rescued him from his custody, he verily believes to be at this time in the town of Lawrence, or secreted by the citizens of that place, and that warlike preparations are being made by the citizens of Lawrence for the purpose of resisting the execution of the process in his hands, and that it would not be prudent to attempt to execute said process with- JOHN P. WOOD'S STATEMENT. 151 out a very strong force to assist him, and further this deponent saith S. J. Jones, Sheriff, Douglas County, Kansas Territory. Sworn and subscribed before me, S. G. Cato, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas Territory. The Governor continued — " This rescue took place on Tuesday morning, the 21th of November, at about two, a.m. The rescuing party then returned to Lawrence, where they held a meeting, at eight o'clock, a.m., on the same day. Branson, the prisoner, presided, dressed, as it is said, in a military uniform, while S N. Wood, the leader and spokesman of the rescuing party, made speeches of an incendiary character, glorying in the triumph of the Free State men over the laws of the Territory. The following document comes in here, as being pertinent to matters alluded to by Governor Shannon in the foregoing para- graph. STATEMENT OP JOHN P. WOOD, IN RELATION TO CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH OC- CURRED IN THE TOWN OP LAWRENCE, SHORTLY AFTER THE RESCUE OF THE PRISONER BRANSON, FROM SHERIFF JONES; TAKEN DECEMBER 1, 1855. Mr. Wood states that he was in Lawrence on or about the 27 th and 28th of November, 1855, and was going up street when he met a Mr. C. W. Babcock, who informed him that on the night before, Branson had been rescued from Sheriff Jones, by a number of armed men. As Babcock and Wood continued up the street, a man named S. N. Wood approached them, dressed in a military uniform, with sword on, etc. Some one proposed three cheers for S. N. Wood, the rescuer of Branson. I heard Wood ad- mit that he was with the mob who rescued Branson ; he moreover gave the names of seven or eight others, among whom were those of Abbot, Smith, and Curless. I saw Curless afterwards, and asked him why he was en- gaged in such an outrage. He or some one else told me that theMeaders informed him that Sheriff Jones had no writ for Branson, but had only arrested him to prevent his giving evidence against Coleman. Note. — Governor Shannon's secretary informs us . that the 158 THE ABSENTEE. gentleman who makes this statement (Mr. John P. Wood) is an Illinoisian, a citizen of Lawrence, and Probate Judge of Doug- las County ; he is also, a Pro-Slavery man in his politics, and a large property holder in Lawrence, from whence he is at present an absentee, for fear of personal violence, with which he has been threatened by the Free State party in that town. He has made himself obnoxious to the Free Soilers, by holding office under what they call "The Missouri Bogus Legislature " A MODEST REQUEST. 159 CHAPTER XVII. GOVERNOR SHANNON'S HISTORY OF THE WAKARUSA WAR. " From this day forth the Free State party in Lawrence openly commenced their military organization, by drilling, sending out their runners — as is proven by the fact that they collected men from poiuts even as far distant as eighty miles — and otherwise putting their town in a position to resist, by force of arms, the legally constituted authorities of Kansas Territory." " Upon the same night, about eight o'clock, I received a dis- patch, by express, from the Sheriff of Douglas County (Jones), informing me that his prisoner, Branson, had been rescued by an armed mob. This dispatch was brought by Mr. Hargis, who stated verbally, at the same time, that the Free State party had that day threatened to take Coleman (then in the custody of Sheriff Jones) from the sheriff, hang him, and also kill Jones. The sheriff's letter asked for three thousand troops, to protect him in the execution of the law. It was evidently writ- ten under a state of considerable excitement and apprehension." The annexed is a copy of the letter from Sheriff Jones, asking for three thousand troops — a good round number by the way — to subdue but forty Free State disorganizers. SHERIFF JONES TO GOVERNOR SHANNON : Douglas County, K. T., Nov. 27, 1855. Last night I, with a posse of ten men, arrested one Jacob Branson by virtue of a peace-warrant regularly issued, who, on our return was res- 160 THREE THOUSAND AGAINST FORTY. cued by a party of forty armed men, who rushed upon us suddenly from behind a house upon the road-side, all armed to the teeth with Sharpe's rifles. You may consider an open rebellion as having already commenced, &g| I call upon you for three thousand men to carry out the laws. Mr. Hargis (the bearer of the letter), will give you more particularly the circumstances. Most Respectfully, Samuel J. Jones, Sheriff of Douglas County. To His Excellency, Wilson Shannon, Governor of Kansas Territory. '* As these facts had reached me in an official manner, from a source of undoubted reliability, and were, moreover, corrobor- ated by much verbal testimony as well as written evidence ; and as these latter acts of outrage (upon the part of the Free State party of Lawrence) seemed but the carrying out of their previously declared intentions, as expressed in the incendi- ary resolutions passed at their public meetings, which have from time to time been held in different parts of this Territory, and of which the following may be quoted as a specimen • * * * * * * * * " Resolved, That we owe no allegiance or obedience to the tyrannical en- actments of this spurious legislature ; that their laws have no validity or binding force upon the people of Kansas, and that every freeman amongst . us is at full liberty, consistently with all his obligations as a citizen and a man, to defy and resist them, if he chooses so to do. * * * ***** "Resolved, That we will endure and submit to these laws no longer than the best interests of the Territory require, as the least of two evils, and will resist them to a bloody issue so soon as we ascertain that peaceable remedies shall fail and forcible resistance shall furnish any reasonable prospect of success ; and that, in the meantime, we recommend to our friends through- out the Territory the organization and disciplining of volunteer companies, and the procurement and preparation of arms. * * * * * * * * AN UNORGANIZED MILITIA. 161 [These resolutions are literal copies of the originals, as they appeared in the Herald of Freedom for September 15, 1855. This paper is published in Lawrence, K. T., and is one of the avowed organs of the Free State party in Kansas. The resolu- tions quoted were passed at the Free State Delegate Conven- tion, holden at Big Springs, K. T., on the 5th September, 1855, which convention also nominated Governor Reeder as a candi- date for Congress, and fixed upon a different day for the elec- tion from that prescribed by law. This nomination Governor Reeder accepted.] " I -therefore deemed it incumbent upon me, as the chief execu- tive of Kansas Territory, to enforce the laws and protect the sheriff, and his prisoner Coleman, from the violence and rescue which had been threatened and in part carried out by this mob, for I firmly believed (being in possession of the facts), that the overt acts just committed by the Free State party were but the commencement of a settled plan and determination to resist and bid defiance to the Territorial laws, in accordance with the reso- lutions already 'quoted. " Under all these circumstances, I felt that I must either fur- nish Sheriff Jones with a sufficient posse to carry out his instruc- tions or be forced into the disgraceful alternative of surrender- ing the Territorial 'government into the hands of an armed and lawless mob. " And it may here be stated that the militia of Kansas were at this time (and are still) totally unorganized. The legislature had, it is true, elected two major generals in the Southern and one in the Northern division, as well as some brigadiers ; but so far as the rank and file are concerned, the organization was not even commenced. " With the view of furnishing the sheriff with a sufficient force to serve his writs, as well as to protect himself and his prisoner Coleman against the threatened violence of the Free State mob 162 THE GATHERING OF THE CLANS. in Lawrence, I issued orders to Major General William P. Richardson (then residing in Doniphan County), K. T., to col- lect as large a force as he could in his division, and repair with his men, with all practical speed, to Lecompton, where he was desired to place his command under the orders of Sheriff Jones. " This order resulted in the collection of from one to two hundred men. Within six days from the date of my oraer, these men were at Lecompton, where General Richardson placed himself and his command under the orders of the sheriff. To the best of my belief these men were all citizens of Kansas. The Southern division of the militia being wholly unorganized, I simply requested Brigadier General Strickler, then residing at Tecumseh, distant only twelve miles from Lecompton, to gather as many men as possible, and report himself and command in the same manner as General Richardson. "These instructions -bore the same date as General Richard- son's order, and resulted in the collection of from fifty to one hundred men." The following are copies of the official orders issued in this emergency to Generals Richardson and Strickler : COPT OF GOVERNOR SHANNON'S INSTRUCTIONS TO MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM P. RICHARDSON, COMMANDING THE MILITIA OP KANSAS TERRITORY — CALLING OUT THE MILITIA AND DIRECTING THE MANNER IN WHICH THET SHALL BE EMPLOYED. Head Quarters, Shawnee»Mtssion, K. T., Nov. 27, 1855. Major-General "William P. Richardson : Sir: Reliable information has reached me that an armed military force is now in Lawrence, or in that vicinity, in open rebellion against the laws of this Territory; and that they have determined that no process in the hands of the sheriff of that county shall be executed. I have received a letter from S. J. Jones, the sheriff of Douglas County, inform- ing me that he had arrested a man under a warrant placed in his hands; shannon's call to arms. 163 jid while conveying him to Lecompton, he was met by an armed force »f some forty men, who rescued the prisoner from his custody, and bid •pen defiance to the law. I am also duly informed that a band of armed nen have burned a number of houses, destroyed personal property, and urned whole families out of doors. This has occurred in Douglas bounty; warrants will be issued against these men and placed in the lands of Mr. Jones, the sheriff of that county, for execution ; who has rritten to me, demanding three thousand men to aid him in preserving he peace and carrying out the process of the law. You are hereby ordered to collect together as large a force a8 ou can in your division, and repair without delay to Lecompton, and eport yourself to S. J. Jones, Sheriff of Douglas County. You will aform him of the number of men under your control, and render him 11 the assistance in your power, should he require your aid in the execu- ion of any legal process in his hands. The forces under your command are to be used for the sole purpose of idiug the sheriff in executing the law, and for none other. I have the honor to be, Your obt. servt., Wilson Shannon. [Note. — This order reached Gen. Richardson, by special messenger, at is residence, in Doniphan County, K. T.] Here follow the orders to General Stricklef : OPT OP GOV. SHANNON'S ORDER TO GEN. STRICKLER, CALLING UPON THAT OFFICER TO COLLECT MEN, AND GO TO THE ASSISTANCE OF THE SHERIFF OF DOUGLAS COUNTY. Head Quarters, Shawnee Mission, K. T., Nov. 27th, 1855. rEN. H. J. Strickler : Sir: ' I am this moment advised by letter from S. J. Jones, sheriff of 'ouglas County, that while conveying a prisoner to Lecompton, whom he ad arrested by virtue of a peace-warrant, he was met by a band of rmed men, who took said prisoner forcibly out of his possession, and bid ipen defiance to the execution of law in this Territory. He has emanded of me three thousand men to aid him in carrying out the legal rocess in his hands. As the Southern Division of the Militia of this erritory is not yet organized, I can only- request you to collect together 164 shannon's army outnumbered. jfs large a force as you can, and at as early a day as practicable, an report yourself, -with the men you may raise, to S. J. Jones, Sheriff o Douglas County, to whom you will give every assistance in your pow< towards the execution of the legal process in his hands. Whatev( forces you may bring to his aid are to be used for the sole purpose of au ing the said sheriff in the execution of the law, and none other. It is expected that every good citizen will aid and assist the lawfi authorities in the execution of the laws of the Territory and the prese; vation of good order. Your obt. servt., Wilson Shannon. To Gen. Strickler, Tecumseh, Shawnee Co. " I presumed as a matter of course, and intended, that a! these men should be drawn entirely from the citizens subject t militia duty in Kansas Territory. At that time — as the sea of difficulties (Lawrence), is distant some forty miles from th State line of Missouri — it never for a moment occurred to m that the citizens of that State would cross into Kansas o volunteer their aid to carry out her laws. I at first presume! that the forces collected under the orders issued to Genera] Richardson and Strickler would have been sufficient to hav protected the sheriff in the performance of the duties entrustec to him. But upon the concentration of the forces under thes officers at Lecompton, which gave us a total of but two hou dred and fifty men, the Free State faction collected their peop.L in the town of Lawrence, until their reported strength reaches an aggregate of six hundred men, armed, as was undoubted!; ascertained, with Sharpe's rifles and revolvers. " This would have given the Free State faction a superiority over the militia of three hundred and fifty men, without reckon ing that which they would derive from the immense superiority of the repeating arms with which they were amply furnished while General Richardson's command were principally supplied with fowling pieces, some having pistols and bowie knives." WHY MISSOURI CROSSED THE BORDER. 165 CHAPTER XYIII. CONTAINS A DIGRESSION. "I can thus- account for the intense excitement which was enerated among the Pro-Slavery men of the Missouri frontier y these events, and which finally resulted in their flocking to le aid of the upholders of Territorial law in Kansas. " Missouri has fifty thousand slaves in that portion of her :rritory which borders upon the frontiers of Kansas. By ;timating the average value of each of those slaves at $600 i low rate), we have a total of $30,000,000. Now, should "ansas become a Free State it would be ruinous to the slave- Dlding interests of Missouri. Her negroes have in several stances, already been tampered with and run off by Abolition- ts ; and such aots, with the stern retaliation they are calcu- ted to call forth, must sooner or later result in a deadly feud 3tween the Free State and Pro-Slavery factions, which, if Kansas becomes a non-slaveholding State, would finally be inded down from father to son, and thus engender feelings of tter and uncompromising hate on both sides. " These facts are well known to every planter in Missouri. Nor this all. The mere pecuniary consideration was the least ^citing motive to move in this matter — their feelings had been orked upon ; they had listened to the stories of men, women id children, who had fled from homes in Kansas, made desolate 7 the threatened and actual violence of the Free State party. 166 GOVERNOR SHANNON'S POLICY. Even granting that these stories were exaggerated by the fane or indignation of their narrators, there was still enough of trut in their representations to excite a smouldering fire of wrath which only required some new act of outrage to fan it into a unextinguishable flame ; and this came at length in the report from the town of Lawrence. The men of Missouri heard tha the Territorial laws were set at defiance ; that the sheriff o: the county — a Virginian, well known and highly esteemed, and moreover, a strong Pro-Slavery man — was actually threaten with death by an armed Abolition mob ; they heard, too (fo when did rumor ever lose strength as it flies ?). that these oiu laws were fortifying themselves, drilling day by day, were send ing to distant States for men, were amply supplied witli tht most deadly weapons which modern skill has devised, and ever provided with artillery. They knew, too, that this was no dis turbance born of a transient excitement, and nurtured by tin passions of an hour. On the contrary, it was understood to b( a cold-blooded, long-foreseen, and carefully prepared-for thin? And what was the most natural result ? The gathering in the camp at Wakarusa may best answer the question. Missouri sent, not only her young men, but her grey-headed citizew were there ; the man of seventy winters stood shoulder to shoul- der with the youth of sixteen. There were volunteers in thai camp who brought with them not only their sons, but tbeii grandsons, to join, if need be, in the expected fray. Every hour added to the excitement, and brought new fuel to the flame. What wonder, then, that my position was an embarrassing one ! Those men came to the Wakarusa camp to fight ; they did nor ask peace : it was war — war to the knife. They would come : it was impossible to prevent them. What, then, was my policy? Certainly this : to mitigate an evil which it was impossible to suppress, by bringing under military control these irregular and excited forces. This was only to be accomplished by permitting A VERY IRISH GENTLEMAN. ' 16? he continuance of the course which had already been adopted, 'ithout my knowledge, by Generals Richardson and Strickler — □at is, to have the volunteers incorporated as they came in ato the already organized command. A portion of these men, ho were mostly from Jackson County, Mo., reported them- ilves to Sheriff Jones — by giving in a list of their names — as illing to serve in his posse, and he, after taking legal advice pon the question, decided to receive them. They were accor- ingly so enrolled. It was decided that he had a right to employ lem, from the fact that as they were present in the county, the leriff had a right to call upon them to aid in the preserva- on of law and order within said county, even though they ight be citizens of another State, in which case, if they chose » act, their services would be legal." ANOTHER DIGRESSION. Although this may seem a most unwarrantable digression om what should properly be the " Governor's talk " and )t ours, we will take the liberty of mentioning a fact or two hich have come to our knowledge from "undoubted authority/ 7 relation to the very fierce party zeal that was exhibited by ,e Pro-Slavery " Border Ruffians " who joined the forces in the r akarusa camp. The reader will find that they endorse Gov- nor Shannon's statement as regards an extraordinary excite- ent to the fullest extent. Among those who answered to the war-signal of Strickler, or may be to the cry of " Come up and help us," which perse- ited Pro-Slavery — sent forth from Hickory Point settlement — as a very old man, a resident of one of the frontier counties Missouri — who, so far as temperament went, was as Irish a mtleman in his " suddenness in quarrel " as ever came from iat sweet spot for broken necks and duelling — County Galway. i fact there was no cooling him. Time had tried it but given 168 THE FIRE EATERS. up the job in despair, for though the snows of seventy odd win ters had whitened upon his head, the warm blood of five-and twenty yet lingered around his heart. He was Pro-Slavery- withal — to the back bone. With him to hate the Abolitionist was to "do God service." So the old man was not only amonj the first to take the field himself, but literally carried out tfat assertion of the Governor by bringing with him not only hi son but his grandson to join, if need be, in the expected fray. Am it is related of this veteran, that while enduring the hardships which, owing to the severity of the season, were peculiar!; severe, of a soldier's life in the Wakarusa camp, he one da; exhibited his musket, an antiquated flint-lock of the condemns old fogy pattern— which he paraded with no little pride, at tht same time giving vent to these very decided words : — " Gentelmen," said this warrior of seventy — " Gentelmen this hyar old firelock war carried by my father through tha dark days of thar Revolution — the days that tried men's soul; — as I heerd a chap say when he war a makin' a stump speed down in Arkansaw ; but I'll be (here the old man ripped out i very English oath, and brought down the butt of the piee with a crash to the ground) ; yes, I'll be derned, gentelmen, tj she war ever carried in a better cause than this? Another " returned volunteer " yarn goes on to state tha some of these " fire-eating " Missouri Pro-Slavery boys wer even heard to affirm, in their very \in-friend-lj way, that the " didnH hear whether thar whisky gin out or not" — that the; " had come thar for a fight, and jest allowed to stop whar the; were, ef it should be fur a month of Sundays, but what tkey'i git one." Touching which, if you don't know far-western men, m; amiable reader, we can assure you tha.t there is a terrible sign ficance in their being willing to stay where they were, " whethe thar whisky gin out or not ;" for when a frontiersman say A BAD POSITION AT THE BEST. 169 '.hat, he means something, for under such circumstances, the main spring of action, whatever it may be, must u have the strength of 'orty jackasses," as, without " the corn," a Borderer — to use his )wn expression — is " no whar f indeed it has even been hinted by ^ery old settlers that the " Old Scratch " himself couldn't keep a Missourian quiet, even for four-and-twenty hours, in that place vhich shall be nameless to Methodistical ears — unless he had a jourd full of highly rectified along with him, and mayhap a fiddle >eside. What wonder then, that our new-made Governor should havf ound himself very much in the position of the unlucky Scotch aan in the story, who stood on a cliff, " with the Deil on on ide and the deep sea upon the other." What a dilemma indeed wa. .is, for a newly-fledged Territorial Executive. With him it was adeed both " save me from my friends," and " preserve me from ry enemies." Let us explain our parallel between Governor Shau- ou's position, and that of the bedevilled Sawney, just alluded to. "he gubernatorial throne of Kansas may well represent the cliff, rith this exception, perhaps, that it is hardly lofty enough to reak even a democratic politician's neck were he to tumble from " Hia high estate," 'hen for the De'il : what apter illustration could you find than hose Satanic Border Ruffians, whom all Lawrence count as hildren of wrath, and servants of the arch-fiend himself. And >r a similitude to the deep sea, we point most triumphantly to le Free State party, who are, or say they are — which in Ameri- in politics comes, now-a-days, to very nearly the same thing, s mighty as the sea, and for all we know to the contrary, as i?p. Were a Pro-Slavery man to carry out the idea, he would robably say, that as regards the loaves and fishes of office, they ould carry out our Oceanic thought to a charm, by swallowing iem up, as did the rock which closed on Korah, Dathan and 8 nO THE SHIP OF STATE. Abiram. But stay, there's something else. We must suppos< the "Deil," in this instance, to be upsetting the gubernatoria throne with a pitchfork, which, on a close inspection, will b< found to be labelled, Black Republicanism and the opinions of the press. What wonder, then, we repeat, that our friend Shan non should find himself in a situation, which can only be expressec by the somewhat vulgar comparison of " a divil of a mess.'" How easy it is for us, good quiet people that we are, to cha over " the troubles in Kansas," in our well-furnished drawing rooms after dinner, where we say, Shannon should have dom that, and the Governor ought not to have done this ; apropos t< which, my very self-sufficient friend, did you never observe, tha when the journals of the day are filled with the particulars o! some terrible disaster upon the storm-swept ocean, there ar hundreds of warmly-housed citizens " Whose souls would sicken on the hearing wave," who sit dowu in their snug chambers, and speak, as they toas their slippered toes at an anthracite heaped grate, of the set faring man — who hoped, and struggled, and battled manfully t the last, until he had vainly exhausted every resource whic experience or skill could devise, to save the gallant bark con mitted to his care — as an ignoramus, a coward, and an ass- stupid fellow who ought never to have had a command, couple( perchance, with what they would have done, or what they tkk they would have done under like circumstances. And now wL shall say that these remarks are not quite as applicable to tb unwarrantable criticisms which are so frequently passed upo those whose curse it is to sail that most unmanageable of a storm-driven craft, u the Ship of State ?" Yet does not ever day prove, how nicely — upon paper, our good people at the Nortl many of whom never saw a log-cabin, and do but dream c "outside barbarians," could " take in the rags" for a Kansf WARLIKE PREPARATIONS. -overnor, where the wind " blows great guns " from the South, r put his bark under " close reefed taup-sails," when a Free State •inpest is at hand ? But we, for one, should be mighty pleased, [ we have but a " Union interest " in this " Ship of State," to e some of these bold pretenders try a " trick at the wheel," hich, and we mistake not, would most probably " eventuate " in leir being rolled into the lee scuppers with her first lurch to >rt. But let us get back, with an apology for interrupting him, the Governor's history of the " Wakarusa War." " The Pro-Slavery forces thus collected, including the militia, aounted on the 1st or 2nd of December, 1855 (as it was then ated to me at the Shawnee Mission), to about 1,500 men, and was also reported that about an equal number of Free State ?n had concentrated at Lawrence. I became satisfied that in all obability a deadly collision must take place, and that the only ly to avoid that collision was to request the aid of the general ivernment. I was, moreover, in the receipt of a communica- n from Brigadier-General Eastin, of the Northern Brigade, M., putting me in possession of information from Lawrence, i d recommending the employment of the United States forces i Fort Leavenworth." The following is the communication referred to from General .istin. KGADIER GENERAL EASTIN's LETTER TO GOVERNOR SHANNON GIVING INFOR- MATION OP WARLIKE PREPARATIONS IN THE TOWN OP LAWRENCE, K. T., AND 7RGING UPON THE GOVERNOR THE NECESSITY OP CALLING OUT THE UNITED STATES TROOPS. Leavenworth, K. T., Nov. SOW, 1856. ( vernor Shannon : Information has been received here direct from Lawrence, which Iconsi- l reliable, that the outlaws of Douglas County are well fortified at Lawrence * h cannon and Sharpe's rifles, and number at least one thousand men. It »i, therefore, be difficult- to dispossess them. 172 SHAVN'ON TELEGRAPHS THE PRESIDENT The militia in this portion of the State are entirely unorganized, and mostly without arms. I suggest the propriety of calling upon the military at Fort Leaver worth. If you have the power to call out the Government troops, I think it would be best to do so at once. It might overawe these outlawo ace prevent bloodshed. (Signed) L. J. Eastin, Brig. General, Northern Brigade, K. M, " To obtain the cooperation of the general government, I tele- graphed on the 1st of December from Kansas City, Missouri, tc President Pierce, that I requested authority to call upon Colo nel Sumner, commanding at Fort Leavenworth, for such mili tary aid as should enable me to protect the sheriff of Dougla: County in executing the laws, and preserving peace and goo( order in the Territory." [Note. — As this dispatch, with the President's reply, as als< the Proclamation of Governor Shannon, dated on the 29th of November, from the executive office at Shawnee Mission, havi already been published, until they have become as threadbare a Paddy O'Flaherty's Sunday coat, it is hardly worth while t< recapitulate them here, the more so, as there is " sorrow a tast< of divarsion " in either of them.] " I also dispatched a messenger to Col. Sumner, 1st Cavalry TJ. S. A., at Fort Leavenworth, notifying him of what I ha< done, and requesting, him to hold himself and command in read: ness, in case the orders should be received ; to which he promptl; replied that he would be ready to move with his men at a mc ment's warning, as soon as the requisite instructions shoul come." Here follows a copy of Col. Sumner's letter to Governo Shannon in reply to the dispatch just referred to. Of tb Governor's letter, which was dated from Shawnee Mission on th same day, no copy was retained, but its contents are embodie in " the statement." Col. Sumner's letter runs thus : COLONEL SUMNER MAKES A SUGGESTION. 173 Head Quarters, 1st Cavalry, Fort Leavenworth, December 1st, 1855. Governor : I have just received your letter of this day. I do not feel lat it would be right in me to act in this important matter until wrdens -e received from the government. I shall be ready to move inso^-atlv henever- I receive them. I would respectfully suggest that you ma*.e 3ur application for aid to the government extensively known at once, id I would countermand any orders that may have been given for the cement of the militia until you receive the answer. I write this in With much respect, your obdt. servt., (Signed) E. V. Sumner, ■ Col. First Cavalry. is Excellency, Governor Shannon. Note. — This letter was received by Governor Shannon on the i of December, at Shawnee Mission. The Governor immedi- tely adopted the suggestions contained therein, and accordingly idressed letters to General Richardson and Sheriff Jones, hich are annexed as follows, together with Sheriff Jones's reply, id a communication from General Richardson to the Governor, ;khjg permission to demand a surrender of the arnts then in Dssession of the Free State party in Lawrence. 5joy of instructions from Governor Shannon to General Richardson com," manding the Territorial militia to carry out the suggestions contained in Colonel Sumner's letter of the 1st : GOVERNOR SHANNON TO GENERAL RICHARDSON. Executive Office, Shawnee Mission, K. T., December 2d, 1855. My Dear Sir : I have written a letter to Sheriff Jones, informing him of lat I have done, and putting him in possession of the fact that I am in nstont expectation of receiving authority from Washington to call out e regu'ar troops at Port Leavenworth. I have notified Colonel Sumner this, and am in receipt of his reply, assuring me that he will be ready a# 114 SHANNON ADOPTS THE SUGGESTION. any moment to move with the whole force at his command, so soon as the orders are received from the General Government. These orders are con- fidently expected in a day or two. I am desirous to employ the Unitcl States* forces, as it would have a most salutary effect upon these lawless men hereafter ; for when they find that the regular troops can be used to preserve the peace and execute the law in this Territory, they will not be so ready to place themselves in a hostile attitude. In the meanwhile you will remain with Sheriff Jones, and retain a sufficient force with you to protect that officer, and secure the safety of his prisoner ; the remainder of your men will be kept at a distance, but be held in readiness to give their services whenever they may be required to act. You will be careful in preserving order, and in restraining your people from any illegal act. Let everything that is done, be for the preservation of law and order. Your duties are to protect the Sheriff, and enable him to serve the legal process in his hands; when these objects are accomplished, your command will retire. _ „ I shall accompany Colonel Sumner with the United States forces, when they move. Yours, with great respect, Wilson Shannon. Major General Richardson, Camp at Lecompton. [Note. — This letter was forwarded by express, together with the com- munication to Sheriff Jones.] Copy of instructions from Governor Shannon to the Sheriff of Doitgla* County — Samuel J. Jones — to carry out the suggestions contained in Col- onel Sumner's letter of the 1st : governor shannon to sheriff JONES. Execotive Office, Shawnee Mission, K T., December 2d, 1855. Sir: I am in receipt of Colonel Sumner's reply to my dispatch, in which he informs me that he will be ready at a moment's warning to move with his whole force, if desired, on the arrival of his orders from Washington. My telegraphic dispatch to the President must have reached its destination by this time, and an answer should soon come to hand. I have no doubt but that the authority which I have requested — to call upon the United States INSTRUCTIONS TO SHERIFF JONES. 175 ro0 p S — vnll be granted. Under these circumstances, you will wait until I :an obtain the desired orders before attempting to execute your writs. This will save any effusion of blood, and may have a moral influence here- ifter, which would 'prevent any farther resistance to the law; for when hcse lawless men find that the forces of the United States can be used to preserve order, they will not be so ready to adopt an opposing course, ind if necessary, steps will be taken to station an adequate force in the listurbed district to protect the people against mob violence, and to secure ;he fulfillment of the laws. You will retain a sufficient force to protect yourself and guard youi prisoner ; anything beyond this had better remain at a distance, until it )an be ascertained whether their aid will or will not be needed. The snown deficiency in arms, and all the accoutrements of war which must lecessarily characterize the law-abiding citizens, who have rushed to your issistance in the maintenance of order, will invite resistance from your >pponents, who are well supplied with arms ; it would be wrong, therefore, ;o place your men in a position where their lives would be endangered, ;vhen we shall in all probability have an ample force from Fort Leaven- worth in a few days. Show this letter to Major-General Richardson, and also to General Eastin, who, as I am advised, have gone to your aid. Their destination s Lecompton, but they will join you wherever you are. Their forces are Dut small, and may be required for your protection until advices are received from Washington. I send you, with this, a communication to General Richardson, which rou will please deliver to him at as early a day as practicable. As I refer lim to this my letter to you, for my views, you will permit him to read it Let me know what number of warrants you have, and the names of the defendants. I shall probably accompany Col. Sumner's command, Yours, with great respect, Wilson Shannon. Sheriff Jones, Lecompton. sheriff jones's reply. Camp, at Wakarusa, Dee. 4tk, 1855. His Excellency, Governor Wilson Shannon : SiR: In reply to your communication of yesterday I have to inform y*u that the volunteer forces, now at this place and at Lecompton, are 17G RICHARDSON AND JONES. getting weary of inaction. They will net I presume, remain but a very short time longer, unless a demand for the prisoner is made. I think I shall have a sufficient force to protect me by to-morrow morning. The force at Lawrence is not half so strong as reported ; I have this from a reliable souree. If I am to wait for tie Government troops, more ihau two-thirds of the men now here will go away, very much dissatisfied. They are leaving hourly as it is. I do not, by any means, wish to violate youi orders, but I really believe that if I have a sufficient force, it would oe better to make the demand. It is reported that the people of Lawrence have run off those offenders from that town, and, indeed, it is said that they are now all out ot tne way. I have writs for sixteen persons, who were with the party that res- cued my prisoner. S. N. Wood, P. R. Brooks, and Saml. Tappan are of Lawrence, the balance from the country round. Warrants will be placed in my hands to-day for the arrest of G. W. Brown, and probably others je Lecompton. They say that they are willing to obey the laws, but no con- fidence can be placed in any statements they may make. No evidence sufficient to cause a warrant to issue has as yet been brought against those lawless men who fired the houses. I would give you the names of the defendants, but the writs are in my office at Lecompton. Most respectfully yours, Saml. J. Jones, Sheriff of Douglas Co The following is a copy of a letter from Major-General Richardson to Governor Shannon, in which the General requests permission to demand the surrender of the Free State people's arms. GENERAL RICHARDSON TO GOVERNOR SHANNON. Lecompton, K. T., Dec. 3d, 1855, 12 o'clock, P. M. His Excellency, Governor Wilson Shannon: Dear Sir: I believe it to be essential to the peace and tranquillity of the Territory that the outlaws at Lawrence and elsewhere should be required to surrender their Sharpe's rifles. There can be no security for the future safety of the lives and property of law-abiding citizens un!es3 THE PRESIDENT PROMISES AID. 117 iese unprincipled men are (at least) deprived of the arms, which, as we 1 know, have been furnished them for the purpose of resisting the law — ■ fact, peaceable citizens will be obliged to leave the Territory, unless ose who are now threatening them are compelled to surrender their lea, and artillery, if they have any. I do not, however, feel authorized from the instructions which you have ven me, to make this demand. Should you concur with me in my union, please let me know by express at once. A fresh rider had better be sent up in lieu of the bearer of this, as he II be fatigued. I am diligently using every possible precaution to pre- Et the effusion of blood and preserve the peace of the Territory. As o Sharpe's rifles may be regarded as private property by some, I can ee a receipt for them, stating that they will be returned to their owners the discretion of the Governor. Very respectfully your obdt. servt., William P. Richardson, Major-General, commanding Kansas Territorial Militia. " On the 4th of December, the telegraph lines being down tween Lexington and Jefferson City, Missouri (my dispatch ing therefore sent by special messenger during the interval), received a reply, dated December 3d, from the President, ;iting that the Executive would use all the power at his immand to preserve order in the Territory, and to enforce the (ecution of the laws, and as soon as the proper orders could I made out at the War Department, they would be transmit- fl. I immediately forwarded a copy of the President's tele- japhic dispatch to Col. Sumner, requesting him to march (on '3 strength of that dispatch), with his men. to the Delaware ossing of the Kansas — twelve miles above its mouth, at which 1st 1 would meet and -accompany his command to the scene I difficulty. " Col. Sumner replied that he would do so, as it was a case of ttreme emergency. (I had written him that time was every- t ng, as things were rapidly coming to a crisis.)" Here follows a copy of Col. Sumner's reply : 8* 178 A CRISIS IS AT HAND. COL. SUMNER TO GOVERNOR SHANNON. Head Quarters Fjrst Cavalry, Dec. 5th, 1855, 1 o'clock, A. M. Governor*: I have just received your letter of yesterday, with the tele- graphic despatch from the President. I will inarch with my regiment in a few hours, and will meet you at the Delaware crossing of the Kansas thii evening. With high respect, your obedient servant, (Signed) E. V. Sumner, Col. First Cavalry. His Excellency, "Wilson Shannon. [XoTE.-^This letter was received by the Governor, at Shawnee Mission, early on the morning of the 6th.] "About this time a committee waited upon me from Law- rence, of Free State men — claiming to represent the citizens of that town (Messrs. Lowry and Babcock). They state that the people of Lawrence were surrounded by a body of armed men, who were threatening to demolish their town, am requested me to exercise my authority to preserve peace anc save their city. They produced a letter signed by the leading men of Lawrence." The following, although the date of its receipt is not given must have reached Governor Shannon about this time : Camp on Wakarusa, Dec. 4. 1856. Sir: Inclosed is a dispatch from Gen. Richardson. I have the i'.onoi to inform you that I was in Lawrence yesterday, and found two hundrec and fifty men under arms, and about six hundred men in the town willing to bear arms against the officers. In camp Wakarusa there are now about two hundred and fifty men under my command. Yours respectfully, H. J. Strickler, Com. S. Divuion. Gov. Shannon. THE CRISIS GETS NEARER. 179 '* Finding that affairs in Lawrence and its vicinity were fast orning to a crisis, I determined to repair there imnie- liately, in person. " I accordingly addressed a communication to Colonel Sumner, pologizing to him for sot meeting him at the Delaware cross- ag, as I had promised, and adding that as I was going to push ■n, ahead, I hoped he would follow with his command, as rapidly s possible. It was my desire to have had the Colonel's men tationed in Lawrence, for I knew, if it could be effected, it :ould prevent an attack. On the night previous to my leaving 3r Lawrence, I sent a special messenger, with three separate ispatches, to Generals Richardson and Strickler, and to iheriff Jones, to prevent an attack or disorder of any kind n 180 SHANNON IS OFF TO THE WAR. CHAPTER XIX. 4 THE GOVERNOR CONTINUES HIS NARRATIVE. " At half past three o'clock, p. m., on the 5th of December, I left Shawnee Mission, went to Westport, Mo. (distant some two and a half miles from the Mission), and requested Col. Boone — a grandson of Col. Boone of frontier memory, and the Postmaster at Westport — to accompany me to Lawrence, and, as his acquaintance with the leading Pro-Slavery men who were then in the camp near Lawrence was extensive, give me the benefit of his influence in keeping down an excitement and pre- venting any rash act upon the part of the troops then threat- ening that town. This he instantly agreed to do, and I owe much to his valuable assistance in restraining the volunteers. We journeyed in company to the scene of action. Shortly after leaving Westport we met a dispatch from Colonel Sum- ner, First Cavalry, stating that upon reflection he had con- cluded not to march with his command until his orders from the War Department had been received. Here follows a copy of Col. Sumner's dispatch, written upon " maturer reflection :" COLONEL SUMNER TO GOVERNOR SHANNON. Head Quarters First Cavalry, Fort Leavenswobtb, Dec. 5th, 1855. ' Governor : On more mature reflection I think it will not be proper for me to move before I receive the orders of the Government. I shall be all SHANNON IN THE CAMP. 181 ready whenever I get them. This decision will not delay our reaching the scene of the difficulties, for I can move from this place to Lawrence as quickly (or nearly so) as I could from the Delaware crossing, and we could not, of course, go beyond that place without definite orders. With high respect, your obedient servant, E. V. Sumner, Coldnel First Cavalry. His Excellency, Wilson Shannon. " We then proceeded as rapidly as possible to the Wakarusa camp (within six miles of Lawrence), which was occupied by that portion of the Pro-Slavery forces under the command of General Strickler, and reached it about three o'clock a. m. on the 6th Early on the morning of the 6th, I sent a request to Major General. Richardson to meet me at the Wakarusa camp, and bring with him the leading men of the Lecompton camp. One of the objects in dividing the Bi-o-Slavery forces into the two camps of Lecompton and Wakarusa, distant from each other by eighteen miles, was to prevent those men in Lawrence against whom the sheriff had writs, from escaping, another was to take advantage of the very favorable camping ground afforded by the Wakarusa bottom, as its facilities for obtaining fuel, water, and sheltering timber, rendered it a desirable location for the troops. About 3 p. m., General Richardson, with a number of the most prominent men from the Lecompton camp, arrived at my quarters (which I had established at an Indian house on the east side of the Wakarusa, and about a quarter of a mile from the Wakarusa camp). I had been engaged during the day op to the very moment of Gen. Richardson's arrival, in con- ference with the leading men of the Wakarusa camp, with the view of ascertaining their feelings and intentions, and if possible prevailing upon them to co-operate with me in carrying out my 182 SHANNON HAS TWO OBJECTS. views. For myself, I had two leading objects, which I had determined to use every exertion to accomplish : — One, to pre- vent the effusion of blood ; the other, to vindicate the supremacy of the laws. I found in the Wakarusa camp a strong disposition which appeared to be almost universal, to attack Lawrence. For the purpose of furthering the objects I had in view, I invited between thirty and forty of their leading men from the two camps to meet me on the night of the 6th, at my quarters, with the intention of explaining to them my desires and purposes and inviting a similar confidence on their part in return. They convened at my quarters, accordingly, at eight o'clock p. m., when I addressed them at length, denning the position which I intended to "occupy and the ends which I hoped to gain, and finally begged them to explain freely, their wishes and expectations as to the settlement of the existing difficulties. I soon discovered that there was but one person present who fully approved of the course which I ^esired to pursue. The others wished to go further ; some would hear of nothing less than the destruction of Lawrence and its fortifications, the demolition of its printing presses, and the unconditional surrender of the arms of the citizens ; others, more moderate, expressed a willingness to be satisfied, if the Free State party would give up their Sharpe's rifles and revolvers. Under these unfavorable circum- stances the conference broke up at midnight, having accom- plished nothing beyond the interchange of opinions on either side. Before its adjournment, however, I informed them that I would enter Lawrence upon the ensuing day (the Tth), and as- certain what arrangements the Free Sate party were williug to make, and what terms they would accede to. On the part of the Pro-Slavery men there seemed to be so fixed a purpose to assault the town that I almost despaired of preventing it, unless 1 could obtain the services of the United States troops at Fort Leavenworth. With the intention of communicating my wishes shannon's army will not be restrained. 183 to Col. Sumner, the commandant of that post, I made arrange- ments with Gen. Strickler, commanding in the Wakarusa camp, to furnish me with an express rider at daybreak, to start imme- diately for Fort Leavenworth. I at once wrote a pressing letter to Col. Sumner of which the following is a copy : GOVERNOR SHANNON TO COLONEL SUMNER. Wakarusa, December, GtJi, 1855. Col. Sumner, 1st Cavalry, TJ. S. A. : Sir: I send you this special dispatch to ask you to come to Lawrence as soon as you possibly can. My object is to secure the citizens of that' place, as well as all others, from a warfare which, if once commenced, there is no telling where it will end. I doubt not that you have received orders from Washington, but if you have not, the absolute pressure of this crisis is such as to justify you with the President, and the world, in moving with your force to the scene of difficulties. It is hard to restrain the men here (they are beyond my power, or at least soon will be), from making an attack upon Lawrence, which, if once made, there is no telling where it may terminate. The presence of a portion of the United States troops at Lawrence would prevent an attack — save bloodshed — and enable us to get matters arranged in a satisfactory way, and at the same time secure the execution of the laws. It is peace, not war, that we want, and you have the power to secure peace. Time is pre- cious — fear not but that you will be sustained. With great repect, Wilson Shannon. N. B. — Be pleased to send me a dispatch. col. sumner's reply. Head-quarters First Cavalry, Fort Leavenworth, Dec. 7, 1 855. Governor : I have received your two letters of the 5th and 6th inst. I regret extremely to disappoint you, but the more I reflect on it the more I am convinced that I ought not to interpose my command between the two hostile parties in this territory until I receive orders from the Govern- ment. We know that the whole matter is now in the hands of the Execu- 184 SHANNON OUTWITS HIS MEN. tive, and it is an affair of too much importance for any one to anticipate the action of the Government. I am momentarily expecting to receive orders, and whenever they come I'shall move instantly, by night or by day. If you find those people bent on attacking the town, I would respectfully suggest that they might be induced to pause for a time on being told that the orders of the General Government were expected every moment, and that there was no doubt but that these orders, framed from an enlarged view of the whole difficulty, would give general satisfaction, and settle the matter honorably for both parties. I am, Governor, with much respect, your obedient servant, E. V. Sumner, Colonel 1st Cavalry, Commanding. His Excellency Wilson Shannon, Governor of Kansas. " At 2, p. m., 7th December, Gen. Stricklercame to my quar- ters, and informed me that he had been advised that a plan had been laid in the Wakarusa camp to intercept my dispatches to Col. Sumner at Caw River crossing. To avoid this, I requested the General to start the messenger immediately. He did so ; and the express rider finally left at 2 o'clock, a. m., and was directed to a ford upon Caw River (not the usual crossing), by an Indian guide from the Caw bottom, who had been procured for the purpose by Col. Boone. To his letter I received no reply until after my return to the executive office at Shawnee Mission, when an answer reached me on the 11th of December. " The object of the Pro-Slavery men in attempting to intercept the dispatches, was to prevent, if possible, the arrival of tfai United States troops, who, they feared, would restrain them from attacking Lawrence. By gaining time, they expected to make the assault before any force could be brought to mediate between the conflicting parties." Note : The following letter from Mr. J. C. Anderson, may very properly be introduced here, as an evidence of the highly excited state of feeling then existing in the Pro-Slavery camp, THE BLACK FLAG. 185 to which Governor Shannon refers, when — in his communication to Col. Sumner — he speaks of these people as being beyond his control. Mr. Anderson's letter is addressed to Major General Richardson, the commander of the Pro-Slavery forces. The ,vriter is a member of the Kansas Legislature, aud resides at Fort Scott — is strongly Pro-Slavery in his politics, and though pite young, took a leading part in the so-called " Bogus Legis- ature f he is said, moreover, to be a person of considerable ibility. J. C. ANDERSON TO GENERAL RICHARDSON. [No date. Governor Shannon's secretary suggests that they were so •usily engaged in the Wakarusa camp, at the period when this epistle was ienned, in trying to get a chance at Eternity, that they lost all track of ime.] Iajor General William P. Richardson : Sir: I have reason to believe from rumors in camp that before to- lorrow morning the black flag* will be hoisted, when nine out of ten will ally round it, and march without orders upon Lawrence. The forces at he Lecompton camp fully understand the plot, and will fight under the ame banner. If Governor Shannon will pledge himself not to allow any United States fficer to interfere with the arms belonging to the United States now I their possession, \ and, in case there is no battle, order the United States Drees off at once, and retain the militia, provided any force is retained — II will be well, and all will obey to the end, and commit no depredation pon private property in Lawrence. I fear a collision between the United States soldiers, and the volunteers, hich would be dreadful. Speedy measures should be taken. Let the men k?iow at once — to-night * The "black flag" was to be the signal for action, in case the more incendiary portion 'the Pro-Slavery forces should determine to take the punishment of the Free State party ito their own hands. t Most probably referring to certain United States arms (it is said muskets), which some ! the Clay County (Mo.) Volunteers are reported to have taken from the arsenal in that cinity. 186 SHANNON ENTERS LAWRENCE. — and I fear that it will even then be too late to stay the rashness of our people. Respectfully your obedt. servt., J. C. Anderson. "On the morning of the 7th I repaired to the town of Law- rence, having on the evening of the 6th been invited, by a com- mittee representing the citizens of that town, to visit their place, for the purpose of arranging, if possible, the difficulties which then threatened them. On my road to Franklin, which lies midway upon the route, I was met by a committee of ten citi- zens of Lawrence, who escorted me into their town, where I was courteously received. I was conducted to an upper chamber in the Emigrant Aid Society's Hotel, and had a long interview with Generals Charles Robinson and James H. Lane, the com- manders of the Free-State forces, who were appointed on the part of the Lawrence people to confer with me in relation to the then existing difficulties. They seemed to feel no hesitatioi in assuring me that the territorial laws should be executed, and that there should be no obstacle presented to the serving of any legal process ; they, however, as representatives of the citizen* of Lawrence, reserved to themselves the right of testing the validity of these laws in the Supreme Court of the Unite* States. They both claimed that the majority of the citizens of Lawrence and its vicinity had never taken any other ground. 1 did not — although well aware of the incendiary nature of tin resolutions which had been repeatedly passed at the varion' meetings of their party — consider it necessary at the time tc enter into any controversy with them in relation to their pre vious position as regarded the execution of the territorial law* — though they had repeatedly declared those laws null and of nt effect, and avowed their determination to "resist them to a blood} *issue.' I felt it to be my duty to accept their present deelaratioi as an apology for the past, and an assurance (hollow though il MOMENTS ARE HOURS. 187 might be) of improvement for the future.' While I was deter- mined, by every means in my power, and even if necessary by an appeal to arms, to exact obedience to the law, I felt urged by every dictate of humanity to prevent a collision which would inevitably have resulted in the utter destruction of Lawrence aud its inhabitants. This was, indeed, no time to revive past offences, for I felt fully convinced that so far as Lawrence and its inhabitants were concerned, ' moments were hours. 1 " I satisfied myself, however, that there was then no person in the town against whom writs had been caused to issue, as the parties had left the place several days before. I then, moved by the consideration of the fearful danger in which their people stood, stated to them that so far as I was concerned, as the chief exe- cutive of the Territory, the arrangements which they appeared williug to enter into in good faith would be satisfactory to me ; that my sole purpose was to secure a faithful execution of the laws ; that I asked nothing more, and that object obtained, I should at once disband the posse. At the same time I explained to them the difficulty of prevailing upon the highly-incensed forces then surrounding Lawrence to retire without attacking the place or demanding the surrender of the Sharpe's rifles and revolvers, with which they were well known to be armed. I added, moreover, that the idea was universally prevalent, both in the Lecompton and Wakarusa camps, that these weapons had been furnished from the East for the purpose of resisting the execution of the Territorial laws of Kansas, and making her a free State. The committee declared that these weapons had neither been procured nor distributed for any such end, but simply to defend the ballot-box from invasion. Yet it cannot.be denied that they admitted to me that these arms were forwarded in boxes from the East, having been written for by General Robinson for the purpose aforesaid. It was also claimed by General Kobinson that these arms were now the property of 188 THE BESEIGED WON'T SURRENDER. individuals, as they 'had been distributed to, and a certain amount of moneys paid for them by the persons in whose hands they then were ; that is to say, each man who received a Sharpe's rifle paid something as an equivalent ; but, from what has transpired, it is my belief that the amount so paid bore no proportion to the real cost or value of the arms ; iu fact, it is currently reported that the sum paid for these Sharpe's rifles by their receivers did not average over three dollars per man. It is computed that there are now in this Territory 1,200 Sharpe's rifles, which have been brought into it for the purpose of arming the Free State faction. The cost of these arms, cal- culating them at $30 each, would give a total of $36,000. Now, supposing that this rumor be true, that each of these deadly weapons bring but $3 in Kansas, or a total for the 1,200 of but $3,600— who, let me ask, loses the difference of $32,400? And it will be perceived that this calculation makes no allowance for the expenses of transportation from the East. " As I found that to insist upon the Free State troops in Law- rence giving up their arms, or to make it a sine qua non in our arrangement, would inevitably lead to a conflict, which as I have before stated, I most earnestly desired to avoid, I therefore merely suggested to the committee that they should surrender their arms to Major General Richardson, and T would direct that officer to receipt for the weapons so received ; it being understood that in the event of their so doing, the arms thus receipted for, should be restored, when, in the opinion of the chief executive, it could be done with propriety ; or, if they preferred it, they might, in the same manner, surrender them to me. I had hoped that this arrangement could have been effected, as it would have enabled me to induce the forces then threatening Lawrence to withdraw without committing any acts of violence. #his proposition was positively declined. The committee quali- fied their refusal, however, by stating, on the part of the citiaeM SHANNON AS A PEACE-MAKER. of Lawrence, that if at any time I would make a requisition in writiDg, stating that those arms were required for the purpose of preserving peace and good order, they would use their influ- ence to comply with that requisition. I then closed the inter- view, being satisfied that they would not deliver up their arms without a fight. I returned to the Wakarusa camp, which I reached about half-past 10 o'clock, p. m. I immediately sought an interview with the most influential men of that camp, stated to them the result of my visit to Lawrence, and reported what the citizens of that town would, and would not, do in the matters under consideration. To a large majority of the Wakarusa camp the concessions made by the Lawrence people were wholly unsatisfactory, but a number of the leading men, although dis- satisfied with the terms offered, agreed to use their influence with their companions to induce their immediate and peaceable withdrawal. "At 1 a. m., Dec. 7, I learned fram a reliable source that a plan was on foot to raise the " black flag," with the view of throwing off the authority of the Territorial executive and its officers and attacking Lawrence upon their own responsibility. I renewed my endeavors for peace, and with the leading men did all in my power to dissuade these hot-headed people from so unauthorized a movement." Note. — The following orders were issued by Governor Shannon upon the 8th of December, to Generals Richardson and Strickler, to prevent any unauthorized attack from being made by the Pro- Slavery volunteers upon Lawrence, during the negotiations which were then pending between the leaders of the opposing parties : 190 ORDERS FROM HEAD QUARTERS. GOVERNOR SHANNON TO GENERAL RICHARDSON. Wakarusa, December 8th t 1855. Major .General Richardson: Sir: You will repress all movements of a disorderly character, and take no steps except by order from me. If any unauthorized demonstra- tion should be made upon Lawrence, you will immediately use your whole force to check it, as in the present state of negotiations an attack upon Lawrence would be wholly unjustifiable. Your obdt. servant, Wilson Shannon. governor shannon to general strickler. Wakarusa, December 8t7l, 1855. tjtENERAL STRICKLER *. Sir: You will repress any movements of a disorderly character. Xo attack must be permitted upon the town of Lawrence in the present state of things, as with the concessions they have made, and are willing to make to the supremacy of the law, such an attack would be wholly unjustifiable. Your obdt. servant, Wilson Shannon. THINGS LOOK BADLY. 191 CHAPTER XX. GOVERNOR'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED THE TREATY. u On the morning of the 8th of December things looked still worse. I was advised by a prominent man that unless the citi- zens of Lawrence gave up their arms, the place would be attacked, and I had better consult my own safety and keep out of danger. My reply was, that I should consider any such attack, after the declarations which had been made by the people of Lawrence, as wholly unjustifiable, and that I should use every means in my power to prevent it. This I at once made prepara- tions to do. Early in the morning I left my quarters and repaired to the Wakarusa camp, and again sought out some prominent individuals and secured their assistance. Upon con- sultation with these gentlemen, one of the most distinguished, proposed to select a committee of thirteen captains, to meet at Franklin a committee from the Lawrence camp, with the view of frankly interchanging opinions, and if possible, coming to some amicable settlement of our difficulties, which were now becoming hourly more complicated. I immediately approved the suggestion, and prepared myself without delay to visit Law- rence, where I hoped to procure the appointment of a similar committee on their part, and bring them out to Franklin, which had been selected as a proper place for the negotiation. While on my way to Lawrence I halted at Franklin for a short time, and * while there the committee of thirteen captains arrived, and at my 192 EVERYBODY SATISFIED AND NOBODY PLEASED. request promised to remain there until I could return with the representation from Lawrence. When I entered that town I found that the people had held a meeting the night before, and had reduced to writing the terms on which they proposed to treat. " These written stipulations were, so far as their promise to ex- ecute the laws was concerned, identical with those verbally agreed upon the day before. But there were other matters which entered into this document, distasteful both in their sub- ject-matter and phraseology. These I caused to be struck out. The remodelling and correction of this paper delayed us until four, p.m., when Generals Robinson and Lane repaired with me, as a committee authorized to act for the Lawrence people, to Franklin, where we procured a room and organized the commit- tees for business. I then addressed the committees, stating to them the two great objects which I so earnestly desired to accomplish, informing them of what had been done, and urging upon them, in the strongest terms, the importance of acquiescing in the arrangement which I had made, by inducing their men to retire quietly. After closing my remarks, General Lane ad- dressed the committees. He was followed by Colonel Woodso^ of Independence, and by General Robinson. " After a conference of three hours, during which opinions were freely interchanged on both sides, the committees concluded to withdraw and report to the men of both parties that they were satisfied, and would settle matters as I wished. We then re- turned to the Wakarusa camp, which we reached at ten, ?. m., where I still continued to press upon the leading men the im portance of withdrawing with their men, and acceding to the terms offered." SHANNON CONCLUDES A TREATY. 193 THE TREATY. The following is an accurate copy of the treaty stipulations, entered into between His Excellency, Wilson Shannon, Gover- nor of Kansas Territory, and Generals Robinson and Lane, the Commanders-in-chief of the " enrolled forces, 1 ' in the city of Law^ rence. Whereas, there is a misunderstanding between the people of Kansas, or i portion of them, and the Governor thereof, arising out of the rescue at lickory Point of a citizen under arrest, and other matters. And whereas, i strong apprehension exists that said misunderstanding may lead to civil strife and bloodshed ; and whereas, as it is desired by both Governor Shan- 1011 and the citizens of Lawrence and its vicinity, to avoid a calamity so lisastrous to the interests of the Territory and the Union ; and to place all >arties in a correct position before the world. Now, therefore it is agreed )y the said Governor Shannon and the undersigned citizens of the said Territory, in Lawrence now assembled, that the matter is settled as follows, o wit: We, the said citizens of said Territory, protest that the said rescue was nade without our knowledge or consent, but that if any of our citizens in aid Territory were engaged in said rescue, we pledge ourselves to aid in he execution of any legal process against them ; that we have no knowledge >f the previous, present, or prospective existence of any organization in the aid Territory, for the resistance of the laws ; and we have not designed nd do not design to resist the execution of any legal service of any crimi- ial process therein, but pledge ourselves to aid in the execution of the i\vs, when called upon by the proper authority, in the town and vicinity of .awrence, and that we will use our influence in preserving order therein, nd declare that we are now, as we have ever been, ready to aid the Gov- mor in securing a posse for the execution of such process ; provided, that ny person thus arrested in Lawrence or its vicinity, while a foreign foe hall remain in the Territory, shall be only examined before a United ■tates District Judge of said Territory, in said town, and admitted to bail, nd provided further, that all citizens arrested without legal process, shall e set at liberty ; and provided further, that Governor Shannon agrees to se his influence to secure to the citizens of Kansas Territory remuneration 9 \ 194 SHANNON DISBANDS HIS ARMY. for any damage suffered in any unlawful depredations, if any such have been committed by the Sheriff's posse in Douglas County. And further Governor Shannon states, that he has not called upon persons, residents of any other States to aid in the execution of the laws ; that such as are here are here of their own choice, and that he does not consider thp.t he has any authority to do so, and that he will not call upon any citizens of any other State who may be here. We wish it understood, that we do not herein express any opinion ai to the validity of the enactments of the Territorial Legislature. Wilson Shannon, (Signed,) Charles Robinson, J. H. Lane. Done in Lawrence, K. T. December 8th, 1855. " It was not, however, until daybreak on the 9th, that I felt safe in issuing my orders as Chief Executive of Kansas Terri- tory, to Sheriff Jones, and Generals Richardson and Strickler, to disband their forces. 1 did so ; my instructions were complied with, and the forces assembled in camps Lecoinpton and Wat* rusa retired without committing any depredation or act of vio- lence, so far as I have heard." And here it will become our duty to finish our summing up, or, to speak more correctly, Governor Shannon's summing up, of the Pro-Slavery argument in re Kansas and her war, by adding the last link to " This strange eventful history," iu the shape of a copy of His Excellency's official orders to Ma- jor General Richardson, and others, disbanding the militia and sheriff's posse., or, in other words, giving the Border Ruffians, then and there assembled, a full and free permission to take ur. their nunc dimiiiis, with, we fancy, more than one inward prayei on the part of the care-worn Executive, that they might keep iu mind as they went, the farewell caution of Bombastes Furioso who dismissed his followers with " Begone, brave army — don't kick up a row." EXEUNT OMNES. 195 But in all sober earnest here follow the orders : — Camp Wakarusa, Dec. 8th, 1855. Sir: Being fully satisfied that there will be no further resistance to the xecution of the laws of this Territory, or to the service of any legal pro- eae in the county of Douglas, you are hereby ordered to cross the Kansas liver to the north side as near Lecompton as you may find it practicable rith your command, and disband the same at such time and place, and in uch numbers as you may deem most convenient. Yours, with great respect, Wilson Shannon, Major Gen. Richardson. Kansas Territory, Camp Wakarusa, Dec. 8tA, 1855. Sir: Being fully satisfied that there will be no further resistance to the xecution of the laws of this Territory, or to the service of any legal pro- 3ss in the county of Douglas, you are hereby ordered to disband your ommand at such time and place as you may deem most convenient. Yours, with great respect. Wilson 'Shannon. General Strickler. Kansas Territory, Camp Wakarusa, Dec. 8th, 1855. Having made satisfactory arrangements by which all legal process iD our hands, either now or hereafter, may be served without the aid of your resent posse, you are hereby required to disband the same. Yours, with great respect, Wilson Shannon. S. J. Jones, Sheriff" of Douglas County. We doubt whether His Excellency, the Governor of all Kansas, ever signed documents with a greater degree of satisfac- on, than he must have experienced in putting his autograph to lese. Here endeth the Governor's History " of the so-called Wakarusa War" — a "most parlous " campaign — which will oubtless render the shallow creek from whence it takes its 196 SHANNON ASSISTED BY THE ELEMENTS. name (and that name by the way, like many another sweet Indian appellation, won't bear translation, at least to u ears polite," in this most modest nineteenth century), as well as the Yankee-built city of Lawrence, famous throughout all co'nino time — " So mote- it be." Governor Shannon tells us that it seemed to him as if th( yery elements fought for him ; for it turned cold, and blew as it never blew before in Kansas — until Bean's " Wakarus; Hotel" was so full — as its good landlady expressed it — tha' "you couldn't have crowded another man in edgewise." Had it been in the pleasant summer time, or had the weathei been less seasonable than it was, the "Border Ruffians" migh be scouting about the Wakarusa Creek at this presen writing ; but December's winter blasts threw cold water upoi ^heir quarrel, until, as the knowing ones say, it is hard tr determine whether the gale of Saturday night or the pacifii counsel of the Governor did most towards bringing abou that very desirable event — an almost bloodless termination t< " the Wakarusa War." And now for another matter. A copy of a certain document, addressed to General Robinson and Lane, the Commanders of the Free State party ii Lawrence, and signed by Governor Shannon, had come inn our possession before we entered Kansas. And we had pro mised that, so far as we were concerned, that document shouli not be given to the world. But as it was rumored that a dis position existed, on the part of certain members of the Frei State party, to make capital out of the existence of this papei we mentioned the fact — in the course of conversation— t Governor Shannon, that we were aware of his having attachei his signature to such a document, at the same time exhibiiim to him its duplicate in our note-book. The Governor seemei very much surprised at our having obtained it, but adniittei its authenticity, and remarked, that he had not even taken i SHANNON SIGNS A CERTAIN PAPER. 197 ;opy for himself. The document alluded to is a communication which we publish below at the request of Governor Shannon), tnthorizing the Free State Generals to use the force under their :ommand for certain purposes therein named. But let it speak or itself — it runs thus : — C. ROBINSON AND J. H. LANE, COMMANDERS OF THE ENROLLED CITIZENS OF LAWRENCE : You are hereby authorized and directed to take such measures and use he enrolled forces under your command in such manner, for the preserva- ion of the peace and the protection of the persons and property of the ieople in Lawrence and its vicinity, as in your judgment shall best secure hat end. Wilson Shannon. Lawrence, Dec. 9th, 1S55. With the view of reconciling this apparent inconsistency in the •fficial conduct of Governor Shannon — in first calling out the Territorial militia to suppress an armed mob, assembled in direct 'iolation of the law, aud then legalizing the existence of that nob by an official letter, authorizing the same persons to act as 1 military body, at their own discretion, and for an unlimited ength of time — we took the liberty of addressing a communica- ion to Gov. Shannon, in which we requested His Excellency o furnish us with any explanation which he might feel disposed o give. The following is his reply r — GOVERNOR SHANNON'S REPLY. Executive Office, Shawnee Mission, K. T., December 25th, 1855. Dear Sir : Your favor of this day's date is before me. In reply I have state that the arrangement of the difficulties with the citizens assembled 1 the town of Lawrence during the recent disturbances, was reduced to ruing by myself, and intended to be on liberal terms, and honorable alike o all parties. In my arrangement with them my great object was to ecure the supremacy of th - law, and bring about, if possible, a more 198 WE ASK AN EXPLANATION. friendly feeling between the two conflicting parties, and thus secure a lasting peace and amicable relations. I knew the object would be defeated by insist- ing on any terms that would be humiliating to the parties concerned, aad I was determined to extend to the citizens assembled in Lawrence every opportunity for placing themselves in what I deemed a correct position in reference to the execution of the laws. The paper which was shown you was probably a correct copy of the arrangement entered into on the 8th instant. As to the paper dated on the 9th instant, and purporting to be addressed to C. Robinson and J. H. Lane, I desire to make an explanation, so as to present the truth in relation to the manner in which it was obtained, as well as my object in signing it. In order to understand this matter, it is necessary that I should make some preliminary statements. On the morning of the 9th, about sunrise, I issued my orders for dis- banding the forces assembled around Lawrence. I remained at the Waka- rusa camp until the forces at that place had retired. This they did in good order. About 10 o'clock a. m. of that day (being Sunday), I went in company with Brigadier General Strickler to Lawrence, where, with Sheriff Jones and others of the Pro-Slavery party, I spent a considerable portion of the day. In the evening I was invited to attend a social gathering of ladies and gentlemen of the town of Lawrence, at the Emigrant Aid Society Hotel, which I accepted. There were but two rooms finished in the hotel; they were small, and in the third story, and were, therefore, very much crowded by the company assembled. The time was spent in the most friendly and social manner, and it seemed to be a matter of congratulation on every side that the difficulties so lately threatening had at length been brought to a happy termination. In the midst of this convivial party, and about ten o'clock at night, Dr. C. Robinson came to me, in a state of apparent excitement, and declared that their picket guard had just come in and reported that there was a large irregular force near the town of Law- rence who were threatening an attack ; adding that the citizens of Lawrence claimed the protection of the Executive, and to this end desired me to give himself and Genl. Lane written permission to repel the. threatened assault. I replied to Dr. Robinson that they did not require any authority from me, as they would be entirely justified in repelling by force any attack upon their town ; that the law of self-preservation was sufficient, and that any authority which I might give would add nothing to its strength. Til* 1 Doctor replied that they had been represented as having arrayed them- selves against the laws and public officers of the Territory, and that he SHANNON EXPLAIN J99 therefore wished me to give him written authority to repel the threatened assault, so that it might appear hereafter, if a rencounter did take place, that they were not acting against, but with the approbation of the Territo- rial executive. With this view, amid an excited throng, in a small and crowded apartment, and without any critical examination of the paper which Dr. Robinson had just written, I signed it ; but it was distinctly understood that it had no application to anything but the threatened attack on Lawrence that night. I had, during my negotiations with Dr. Robinson, as one of the committee on behalf of the citizens assembled in Lawrence, repeatedly assured him that if the people of that place would acknowledge the validity of the Ter- ritorial laws until otherwise determined by legitimate authority, and would place themselves under their protection, I would exert all the power vested in me to protect the citizens of that town, both in their persons and pro- perty, and in securing them from an attack. And I will here state that after an arrangement had been made with those assembled in Lawrence, and after my assurances of protection, so far as in my power lay, I should have looked upon any assault upon the town of Lawrence on the night of December the 9th as an outrage, and wholly unjustifiable, and I should have felt myself bound, both in duty and honor, to have exerted myself to the utmost to have prevented so unwarrantable an act of violence. It was under these circumstances, and with the view of carrying out in good faith my assurances to the citizens of that place (pending negotia- tions) and to avoid all cause of complaint on the part of the people of Law- rence, on any pretext, for breaking from the stipulations concluded but the day before, that I signed a paper authorizing C. Robinson and J. H. Lane to repel the threatened attack on the town of Lawrence. It was done on my part with the kindest and best of motives, from an earnest desire to restore harmony and confidence. It did not for a moment occur to me that this pretended attack upon the town was but a device to obtain from me a paper which might be used to my prejudice. I supposed at the time that I was surrounded by gentlemen and by grateful hearts, and not by tricksters, who, with fraudulent representations, were seeking to obtain an advantage over me. I Was the last man on the globe who deserved such treatment from the citizens of Lawrence. For four days and nights, and at the cost of many valuable friends, whose good will I have forfeited by favoring too pacific a course, I had labored most incessantly to save their town from destruction and their citizens from a bloody fight. On the next morning after this transaction took place, upon the most 200 WHY WE ASKED. diligent inquiry, I could not learn that any force whatever had ever made its appearance before Lawrence upon the previous night ; and on a full inquiry into the matter since, I am now satisfied that there was no hostile party at any place near Lawrence on the night of the 9th. This paper, obtained as I have stated, has, I presume, been shown by Doctor Robinson, and copies permitted to have been taken and used, for the purpose of giving an air of legality to the acts of the citizens assembled in Lawrence previous to its date. No such purpose was contemplated by me, and I repeat, that the paper I signed was only intended to apply to the alleged threatening of the town of Lawrence by an armed force, on the night of December 9th, and if it was obtained, or has been used for any other purpose, it is an exhibition of base ingratitude and low trickery, which should render infamous the name of every one connected with it. Yours, with great respect, Wilson Shannon. If the reader should be so curious as to ask the motives which actuated us in addressing this " call for information " to General Shannon, in regard to the nature and intention of the document just alluded to, we should answer that, we had two reasons for so doing. The first, being a desire to sift thoroughly, and weigh well the statements which had been made to us, for the journalist must ever be a convert to the rule of believing but half that he sees and almost nothing that he hears. And where, let me ask, can you find an apter illustration of the necessity of this " ower carefulness," if such it be, than in the present instance ? We might even, had we been so minded, have preached from this unlucky paper as from a text, and proved thereby that the Governor of Kansas was little better than a walking contradic- tion ; at least, we shpuld have made this clear to all who looked no further than the document in question. Yet, who does not know that "it is the letter that kills " while " the spirit giveth life." To sum up the whole matter, this legalizing of the " armed outlaws " in Lawrence, is either a mountain or a mole- hill ; take it as it appears, and it is a Mount Pelion ; explain it. TWO GOOD REASONS. 201 and lo ! the mountain Las been in labor, and brought forth — a mouse. So much for our first motive. As regards the second, we are free to confess that we have f taken a fancy to the Governor — he did all he could to lighten our news-hunting labors — he gave us a hearty welcome, and seemed to regret our departure; and that, too, in a country where we were literally " a stranger among strangers." This is a cold world, and kindness should be reciprocal. Governor Shannon is, moreover (or at least we think so), in his anxieties for the best good of Kansas, a verv single-hearted man ; he has also occupied a somewhat prominent position in the world of American politics, in which he has filled various offices — such as Minister to Mexico, Governor of Ohio, and others of lesser note, with credit to himself, and satisfaction to those whom he has represented. And finally upon this subject, if a third reason should be required, we will add it in the form of an article of our creed, which enjoins upon us the belief that every individual and every party is, at all times and in all places, entitled to the benefit of what they call, in Western Texas, a white man's chance." And in saying this, we are compelled to admit that we have followed the very ladylike practice of keeping our strongest reason for the last. By the way, there is one little incident connected with the reception of the Governor's letter of elucidation, which will bear repeating. Governor Shannon asked us, as we glanced over his epistle, if we thought he had made it strong enough. We were reading the concluding sentence at the time, and we made bold to assure him that it would be " painting the lily," in that respect, to alter a single line ; for if this explanation be not strong enough, we only wonder how His Excellency contrives to get his powerful ones through the mail-bags, for we should fancy that they might almost rival the u Artful Dodger's cele- 9* 202 A MYSTERIOUS EPISTLE. brated tea," which had arrived at that degree of strength 'that it required a safety-valve to the tea-pot to prevent an explosion. The following epistle has just been handed us. We copy from the original document, a much mutilated and not over cleanly bit of paper, six inches by four, badly spelt, and evidently writ- ten with a view to disguise the hand. It was folded in a self- sealing note-envelope, with an ornamental seal pressed into the paper of so peculiar a stamp that an expert policeman could hardly fail, in a small town like Lawrence, to discover its author. It is directed to " Sheriff Jones, Lawrence, K. T. " by whom it was recently received, through the Lawrence post- office : it reads thus, " short and sweet " : — [No date.] Sheriff Jones — You are notified that if you make one more arrest by the order of any magistrate appointed by the Kansas Bogus Legislature, that in so doing you will sign your own Death Warrant. Per order. Secret Twelve. This dispatch is as " ultra " in its tone as the most enthusi- astic agitator could wish. We have just learned by a gentleman this day from Lecomp- ton, that he was in Lawrence on the Tuesday following the dis- banding of the militia, and then and there saw some fifteen or twenty men engaged in digging entrenchments. To use his own expression, " they are adding some circular earth forts " Our informant also states that they have a flag still flying over the town — a tri-color — red, white, and blue — the stripes running in the same manner as those of the American ensign, but no stars. What does this strengthening of breastworks mean ? Is not peace made, ratified, and concluded ? SKA SON ABLE. 203 CHAPTER XXI. CHRISTMAS IN KANSAS. Christmas-day — cold, bitter, freezing, seasonable as it ought to be ; a little too " seasonable," perhaps, for the like of this, in the way of biting winter ' weather, has never been known in Kansas, even in the memory of that highly respectable indivi- dual — the oldest inhabitant. The ground is covered with snow. At Council Bluffs it is said to be six feet in depth ; and for' the past three days the mercury here has indicated from ten to twenty-two degrees below zero; other authorities say thirty-three, but we have no desire to make it any worse — it's bad enough as it is — in fact we have been so much annoyed of late by weather-, wise observers, who will insist upon quoting their different and differing thermometers for our -especial benefit, that we begin to entertain almost as decided an " enemosity n to that sensitive instrument as did the old lady down East, who, on being informed upon a certain scorching day in August, that " the thermometer made it five degrees hotter," begged her son John to " take the darned thing out of doors afore it sot the house on fire." We forget whether this thrice-told tale has been credited to Mrs. Partington or not. But to return — we even hear of people being frost-bitten on lonely prairie roads, " Smoothed up with snow," 204 OUR CORRESPONDENT'S CHRISTMAS. where, if trie traveller should wander from the unbeaten track, his chance — unless he be a better path-finder than new-comers generally are — is small indeed. Old Kansas settlers say that last year some people froze to death ; and we can Readily ima- gine it, for Siberia itself could hardly look more frigidly repul- sive than these frozen, snow-drifted wastes of Eastern Kansas. And this is Christmas ! — Dear, old-fashioned, merry-hearted Christmas! — which we have longed for, and welcomed, and honored truly from a boy. But there's some mistake this year ; for though to-day is, beyond a doubt,' December the 25th, on which, as everybody knows, Christmas ought and used to come, we haven't seen it yet — our Christmas we mean. Alas ! what evil fortune — our festival, with its friendly gifts and right good wishes ; its turkey dinner, pleased little ones, toasts, mince pie, evergreen decorated church, sermon, and all that sort of thiug, is on the t'other side of those far-off Alleghany mountains. So we must even make the Christmas of 1855 a working-day, if only in self-defence to occupy the mind and drive away those confounded visitors — the Blue Devils, which will intrude them selves, though all unbidden, when the " voyageur " treats him- self to that most dangerous luxury, a fit of musing, which bears him back, " on Fancy's restless wing," to distant friends and home. And thus it happened that " Our Correspondent's " Christ- mas-day dwindled down into plain December the twenty-fifth, which we passed in writing — bating a meridian egg-nog — until the gloomy winter evening was deepening the shadows in the Governor's as yet unlighted chamber, when we received a spe- cial envoy in the person of Mr. Johnson, the superintendent of the Mission, who intimated to us that his good lady would be happy to see Governor Shannon and his suite — of which we, by courtesy, formed one, for the time being — in their private " sit- ting room," where she would have the pleasure ef introducing HAPPY CHILDREN. 205 to our notice an " apple toddy," with accompanying refresh- ments, concocted by her own fair hands ; an invitation which we were not slow to accept. Reader ! did you ever taste apple toddy ? If you haven't, try it ; when it is just possible that you may discover why we don't like it, too. Take an old man's advice, and never mix your liquor, Charley," was the recommendation of that veteran stager, Major Monsoon, to his young friend O'Malley ; and we firmly believe that if old Monsoon had been requested to imbibe apple toddy, he would have pronounced it a terrible compound, involving an awful waste of " the groceries." But if the mixture was question- able, its accessories were not ; and better still, we found, upon descending to Mistress Johnson's sanctum, a huge open wood, fire (our old favorite), and plenty of children (another pet of ours), all busily engaged, like Mrs. Bradford's " Benny," in "Digging deep among the goodies In their crimson stockings hid ;" and raising the very Ancient Edward himself in their boisterous glee. It was a pleasant thing to mark their gambols, and to lis- ten to those little ones, too ; for their merry shouts filled that " fire-lighted chamber " with joyous echoes. But as we watched their sport there came up to our mind "A fearful vision fraught with all that lay between," of that uncertain future whose sorrows would, in coming years, wrinkle those fair young brows and dim those gaily laughing eyes— and then, as we turned from the far-off Future to walk sorrowfully with the recent Past, what bitter recollections came crowding in of Death's stern doings within the year which was now growing grey and old — and oh ! how chillingly they fell upon our heart, as our spirit drifted ' out — borne up by the 206 THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST. Ghost of Christmas Past, into the chill December air — to sweep over many a snow-clad mount and ice-bound river, and traverse plain, and lake, and leafless forest, until it reached the spot, made sunshine but a twelve-month ago by the presence of one too pure for earth, whose infant form now sleeps that long l, is t rest which knows no waking, beneath the frozen clods of a sea- side city of the dead. What wonder, then, that we are sad to-night ! It may interest the New York juveniles to know that in the Far Western country, a child's first Christmas salutation to every one it meets, is " Christmas gift — Christmas gift." They !atch you always, if they can. We tried to get ahead of a blue- eyed, curly-headed little lady this morning — a daughter of Mr. Woodson, the Secretary of State — but Miss Betty was too smart for us, and cried " Christmas gift," before we could open our mouth. So much for our Christmas day in Kansas. Shawnee Mission, Dec. 26. We must talk politics to-day or nothing, so we will even ex- tract the very lightest paragraph from our latest journalizing, and introduce it here. Judge S , the Free State candidate for , had a Ion: conversation with Governor Shannon in the executive office yes- terday. The Judge is, as we are informed, a New Yorker ; that is to say, from the interior of that State. He is reported to have left there in disgust, because, to quote from his Honor's own words, as expressed to a distinguished individual in the Territory, "He would not live in a State where his next door neighbor — a better man than himself — who had, however, the misfortune to be naturally dark-colored, with a slight kink in his hair — could not cast his vote, because he was not a free- holder." As may be presumed from this, the Judge is an Abo- A T0LITIC1L DIALOGUE. 201 litionist, " dyed in the wool." But be this as it may, the Judge is spoken of as a man of his word, and a person whose statements may be relied upon. We therefore attach more importance to the following dialogue : — Judge. — Do you really believe, Governor, that there will be any appeal to arms made by the contending parties in this Ter- ritory ? Governor. — Everything tends that way at the present time, sir. I think that this must be the final result, for I have not a particle of confidence in the present state -of quiet. Judge. — As I am now going East, I will, in such an event, send out men and arms to the Free State party in Kansas. The Missourians talk of ' wiping us out,' but they can't do it, sir — they can never do it — for the Free States can raise twenty dollars to one, and four men to one over the slaveholding States. Secretary of State. — I reckon you are going East for that purpose, anyhow, Judge. To this insinuation the Judge returned no definite reply, but smiled significantly. ^ Governor. — Do you not think, Judge, if your folks get to fighting in Kansas, that the war will extend to other parts of our country, and finally terminate in the dissolution of the Union ? Judge. — Certainly it will. I think the Union won't last six months, or a year at the most. And here we came away — or our informant did, who formed one of the party. The following may be relied on as a part of the present inten- tions and prospects of the Free State party in Kansas. It comes from one of their most prominent men, whose name has been placed upon their ticket for State officers. They intend putting their Free State government into opera- tion at any cost. They have no hopes that Congress will admit Kansas as a State, during its present session, but declare that 208 A NEGRO STANDARD-BEARER. they have positive assurances that, to favor their views, no appropriation for the support of the Territorial government in Kansas will be made, even if it should be necessary to defeat the General Appropriation Bill in so doing, in which event, they hope the Territorial government will " die out," and per- mit their State administration to step into its shoes. This is to be done in the House of Representatives. They do not claim strength in the Senate. But whether this takes place or not, they have decided that their Free State government is to go into operation on the 4th of March next, at which time they will inaugurate their State officers. To-day is December 27. And now, if there be any fun iu the Kansas question, we will extract it, if we can ; but don't be critical, kind reader, for it's about as hopeless a task to get blood from a stone, as a good joke out of political wire-pulling ; but if the subject have a "sunny side," we'll find it, for the present, upon its 'Southern exposure, so we shall, therefore, indulge ourself in a few Pro-Slavery yarns, which, as they are veritable facts, and withal, "nuts to crack" for somebody, may as well come in here. Yarn the First. — We are assured that the standard of the Pro-Slavery company, which marched to the seat of war from Jackson County, Mo. was carried by a slave — a slave bora, and bred, and dyed in the wool ; in short, what a certain person we wot of would elegantly designate, as "a long-heeled, thick- lipped, flat-nosed, and kinky-headed specimen of the benighted and down-trodden Sons of Africa," who nevertheless marched gallantly in the van, bearing aloft the banner of Pro-Slavery, and withal, " armed and equipped as Border law directs," to encounter those who " had been talking " of shedding their life's blood for his benefit. And this is what these ferocious u Border Ruffians call * putting the seeds of dissension in the leadP Yarn the Second. — Some months ago a slaveholder in Lafa- A BODY-GUARD OF SLAVES. 209 yette County, Mo., passed through the town of Westport, in that State, on his way to select a farming location in Kansas Territory. He was accompanied by half a dozen likely negroes from his own plantation, all well mounted and completely armed, each fellow having a Colt's navy revolver tucked into his right boot. " Where the deuce are you going to with those niggers V 9 shouted an inquisitive friend to the planter, as the cavalcade trotted into Westport. " Going ?" was the reply, " why, where should I be going ? I'm bound for Kansas to hunt a claim, and as I knew I'd have to go by Lawrence, and down among those vile abolitionists, I thought I'd better have a body-guard, and brought some of my niggers along accordingly." Yarn the Third. — An old negro man, a slave, belonging to a gentleman in the vicinity of Westport, was asked whether he did not " want to go and live among the Free State men in Law- rence ?" when he instantly replied : " No ! s'pect not, massa, dis nigger been raised 'mong quality — couldn't think of gwine thar, sir : drather stay at home 'mong white folks." It is currently reported in these parts, that when a planter wishes to scare a refractory darkey into good behavior, he has only to threaten selling him to a Lawrence man, which operates as effectually as a hint to a nigger in the Old Dominion, that he's off for New Orleans, if he dont amend. If strong Pro-Slavery sympathizers are to be believed, the South must be " up and rising " upon the Kansas question. She will, they say, pour a tremendous emigration into the Territory in the early spring. The following items may, we think, among a mass of rumors which want foundation, be relied upon, as we have derived them from the highest and most respectable sources : From one county in Georgia, one hundred bona fide, emigrants 210 KANSAS EMIGRATION FROM THE SOUTH. have already made their preparations to start. More will leave from other counties in that State. From Mississippi no less a personage than Gen. Quitman himself, with some hundreds of the boys of the Cotton State, are confi- dently looked for. Gen. Quitman has (it is said), given $2,500 to promote the objects of the Southern Kansas Aid Emigration Society. This may not be the proper title of the association, but it has the peopling of Kansas by Pro-Slavery men for its aim. Colonel Buford, of Alabama (writes our informant), has con- tributed from his own purse $25,000 for a similar purpose. He himself is coming out to the Territory in March with 300 Ala- bamians, who will settle in Kansas, cast their votes to make her a slave State, and, if necessary, handle their rifles in the saraa cause, a procedure, by the way, which we deprecate exceedingly. Apropos to possible Kansas Aid Emigration Societies in the South, we have made the following extract from Col. Buford's address to " Kansas emigrants, and the friends of the South gen- erally, 1 ' as we find it published in the Alabama " Spirit of tfo South" In selecting these extracts, we have carefully endeavored to strike out all that was partisan, our object being simply to present the reader with a fair specimen of the practical organization and proposed arrangements of one or two of the numerous Pro- Slavery Kansas Emigrant Aid Societies, which are now forming, or said to be forming, in almost every city of the sunny South : From the Alabama Spirit of the South. TO KANSAS EMIGRANTS AND TO ALL FRIENDS OF THE SOUTH. I had proposed to start with my company of Kansas emigrants on the 11th of February next, but many of them being unable to get ready by that time, and others being unwilling to go before spring, and especially as I am advised by my correspondents that the Missouri and Kansas rivers COLONEL BUFORD'S SCHEME. 211 are already impeded by ice, I have determined to postpone starting till the winter breaks. The emigrants may rendezvous at Eufaula, on the 31st March nexty at- Columbus, Ga., on the 3d of April, and at Montgomery, Ala., on the 5th of April next — so that I can start from Eufaula, via Columbus and Mont- gomery, collecting on the way those I find at the different places of ren- dezvous. The company will travel from Montgomery by steamers, via Mobile and New Orleans, or else by railroad via Atlanta to Nashville, and thence by steamer to Kansas. I engage to transport no baggage except six blankets, one gun, one knapsack, and one frying-pan to each emigrant. For baggage over and above this, the emigrant himself must engage transportation; many will have no more, and I must treat all alike. While I thought my company would be small, I expected to be able to take women, children, and slaves ; but I find I must leave them to give place to men, who are now greatly needed in Kansas to preserve the pub- lic peace and enforce the laws. I now expect over four hundred men, and I will take no females, nor slaves, nor minors under eighteen years of age. Women and children should not be exposed there in tents in the spring, but the husbands should go first and prepare houses. The regiment will be divided into companies of forty or fifty men, under the usual military officers, elected by the men. Officers have no emolu- ments, and the organization is on the principle of volunteer militia to sus- tain the laws; a majority of each company may expel any member. Rations, transportation, and fare, that of soldiers in service. By way of remunerating me for the privilege of joining my party, for subsistence and transportation to Kansas, and for furnishing means to enter his pre- emption, each emigrant agrees to acquire a pre-emption, and to pay me, when his titles are perfected, a sum equal to the value of one-half of his pre-emption, which obligation he may discharge in money or property at a fair valuation, at his own option. I had heretofore, from misinformation, supposed pre-emptions assignable before patent, but on examining the act I find they are not. Neither does the donation act apply to Kansas, but each male of full age, widow or head of family who has not had a pre-emption under the act of 1841 and does not own 320 acres of land, and who has improved and settled on it — not to sell on speculation, but for his own use and cultivation — is entitled to enter 160 acres, at $1 25 per acre, payable any time before the land sales. I have simplified my proposals to a single proposition, as above, in order 212 JUDGE CATO ON THE TERRITORY. to be more easily understood and to obviate the many questions that over- whelm me. Besides taking only free males over eighteen, the great number of applications compels this further modification, i. e. : — I will receive only those emigrants who rendezvous at the places above designated — at either of which places, i. e., Eufaula, Columbus, or Montgomery, I will receive all males over eighteen from any Southern State, who join me at the time above designated ; their rations to begin from the time above- named for rendezvous. Emigrants must pay their own expenses to the place and day of rendezvous. Those gentlemen in California and other States, forming companies to join me, can very easily obtain free trans- portation for their companies by proper application to the directors of the railroads over which they must pass. ******* I have before told you what Judge" Cato (Judge of the Territory) says of that fertile region. In his letter of November last, he writes : — " Corn is plenty at twenty-five cents per bushel. This is as fine a country as any on earth ; the profits on its productions far exceed that in the cotton regions. All grain, grass, clover, and hemp give large return;: — at least from thirty to forty dollars per acre annually. I have seen no poor lands ; it all seems richer than the best Chattahoochee bottom, and the most of it is just like adjoining Missouri lands that now sell at twenty to fifty dollars per acre. The estimated average of the corn is one hun- dred bushels per acre, and six tons hemp per hand, worth $140 per ton. [ can give no idea of the beauty and fertility of the soil of the country. Good wells can be obtained anywhere, and running streams are frequent." Dr. Walker, a long resident of its borders, and of high character and intelligence, says : "As far as health, climate, and profits of labor are concerned, Kansas ii better than any part of the Union. There is no country where a man can be more independent, and make his bread and meat with less capital, tnan here ; ten or twelve furrows will make ten barrels of corn to the acre. One thousand pounds hemp per acre is a common crop. There are swarms of cattle and good markets for everything." Another distinguished resident of Western Missouri, in his letter of the 3tHh December to me, says : " Planters are making twice the money per hand that they are in any other part of the Union. One hand will raise five tons of hemp, and tins RELIGIOUS AND UNEXCEPTIONABLE. 213 don't interfere with the corn, wheat, and oat crop ; planters have no sup- plies to purchase, but everything to sell. A near neighbor last year, with fourteen hands, men, women, and boys, averaged eight hundred and thirty-six dollars per hand — negro fellows, field hands, hire for $300 per annum — mechanics $600 ; white men $25 per month ; any number of young men iu the spring can find ready employment at that price, and then they have other advantages." Kansas is the starting point for California, Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico — thousands of wagons leave every spring ; they carry three mil- lions of goods per annum to New Mexico, besides immense government supplies to pay Indians and sustain our military posts, &c. Let every one wishing to go urge his neighbors to hold meetings who will appoint agents to solicit every man's contribution, either in money or note, payable after the emigrants are taken out. Contributions must not be to individual members, but for the common benefit. I could by the last of March raise five thousand men, if the contributions reached, say $10 per head — for that would enable me to furnish all with their military and agricultural outfit. I am asked, "What military and other service do I require?" None, except that when he gets to Kansas, the emigrant shall begin some honest employment for a living — if it be working on his claim — that will give him credit to buy bread on. On his way there he is expected to be orderly and temperate, to attend the reading of the Scripture and prayer, night and morning, learn to fear God, to be charitable to our enemies, gentle with females and those in our power, merciful to slaves and beasts, and just to all men. All who intend to go, will please write me immediately. W. P. Belcher, Esq., Abbeville C. H., S. C, and Capt. E. B. Bell, Graniteville, Edgefield, S. C, I understand, are raising companies to join me. They, doubtless, can get free transportation for them to Columbus, Ga., and Carolina emigrants might do well to come with one of them. All editors friendly to the enterprise, it is hoped, will copy this address in full. J. BUFORD. Eufatjla., Ala., Jan. 19, 1856. 2H E. B. BELL AND HO FOR KANSAS. The following comes from E. B. Bell, Esq., of South Caro- lina ; we have taken the liberty of treating Mr. Bell's letter in the same manner as that of his predecessor, by extracting its political pepper — for, with all due deference to these gentlemen, we do not intend in this, our Kansas war, to permit any one to meddle with the spice box but ourself. And if we cannot sue- ceed in basting both sides to their entire satisfaction ere we cry, " Hold, enough," we will invite all parties coucerned to proceed forthwith to the plains of Kansas, a most unbounded battle field, and there fight out the quarrel with Sharpe's rifles and Bowie knifes if they please, while we stand by, to see the fight. From the Edgefield (S. C.) Advertiser. HO ! FOR KANSAS. At the solicitation of many friends, I will commence the organization of a company of one hundred men to proceed to Kansas about the last of March. This pioneer band needs the aid of our moneyed citizens. They go to a far-off country for the purpose of securing homes, and at the same time to defend Southern institutions. They appeal to their native State for aid, with the hope that their appeal will not be in vain. It is impossible that the people of South Carolina can hear without emotion the news which daily comes to us from Kansas. ******* We trust that these questions may be answered in a worthy and liberal manner. Let patriotism, State pride, and Southern spirit be expressed in some suitable, practical form of aid for Kansas. E. B. Bell Were further testimony necessary of there being some reality in this action on the part of the South, it might be added from Georgia, Mississippi, and other slaveholding States — for from the dark forests of Kentucky, as well as from the rice-fields of the sunny South, comes up the cry, " Hurrah for Kansas ! A SLIGHT MISTAKE. 215 To change the subject — Hunters just in from the plains report buffalo in great abundance. They came in this fall to within fifteen miles of Council Grove ; this is nearer than they have come for years. A party of men arrived here, or in Indepen- dence, some ten days ago, with four wagons loaded down with their meat. Would it not be a good speculation for some enter prising fellow — a Yankee, of course — to come to the Territory and go into the buffalo butchering business ? And yet another change : Editors make mistakes sometimes both in and out of Kansas — here is a specimen ; we clip our text from the " Herald of Freedom," Dec. 15 : Major Clarke, Pottawatomie Agent, reinforced the mob at Lecompton yesterday, with a party of Indians. As this party passed through Topeka they boasted that they would not return without a scalp — one on each shoulder. Clarke attempted last evening to shoot a Free State man, but the ball p assed through the leg of one of his own friends, shattering it very much, rendering it quite probable that it will have to be amputated. The real facts of this affair — which was, after all, what an Irishman would call, "just a thrifling mistake, and divil a bit more'' — were, as we have received them from Major Clarke, the gentleman alluded to in the foregoing paragraph, substantially as follows, — Major George W. Clarke, United States Indian Agent for the Pottawa- tomies, being in the Indian Reservation, and learning that the country •-hrough which he was about to travel, with a large amount of public funds, x&s filled with armed and incendiary parties, adopted the precaution of wringing with him an escort composed of employees of his agency, among vhom were five Pottawatomies, whom he sent back the next day, and who lid not participate in any manner in the territorial difficulties. Upon eturuing to his residence, near Lecompton — having in the meantime left ua escort at that place, distant by some two and a-half miles — he found us family in great alarm from a threatened attack to be made upon his 216 SHOOTING THE WRONG MAN. house that night. In the course of the evening, and at an early hour, hf was aroused by the screams of his family, who were alarmed by one of its members, who came running in, and stated that the house was attacked b^ an armed party, and that the assailants were already in the yard. Majo; Clarke seized a loaded fowling-piece which happened to be standing in th( hall, ran out of the back door, turned a corner of the house — it being von dark at the time. Upon doing so he perceived a number of men jus entering the front door. Fully believing that a set of desperadoes wen about carrying out their blood-thirsty intentions — in accordance with thi repeated threats which had even upon that very day been made by certaii individuals of the Free State party, to the effect that they would shoo Major Clarke, he did not hail, but hastily fired; the piece was loaded witl small bird shot (not " ball," as the " Herald of Freedom " states.) The loa. most unfortunately entered the leg of one of the men, who proved to bJ one of a party of Major Clarke's neighbors, who had come at Mrs. Clarke' request to assist in protecting her house against the violence with which i had been threatened by a Free State mob. After some moments of confusioi an explanation was made, and the injured man was carried into the house where his wounds were as well cared for as circumstances would pennil At his request, Major Clarke then carried the victim of this sad acciden home in his (Major Clarke's) carriage. The gentleman injured (Mi Bolder) is now rapidly recovering, and is at present able to walk about and, as Major Clarke is most happy to declare, stands in no danger of beioj called upon to submit to an amputation. Nothing like having both sides of a story, is there ? AN ODD FISH. 211 CHAPTER XXII. LIFE AT THE MISSION. December 29th — morning. At Shawnee Mission still. The weather (and why shouldn't we quote the weather as well as 3 rofessor E. Meriam or any other warmly-housed philosopher)^ las got into a " cold circle " in these regions just now, and if ou should ask us when it's going to get out, we could but reply n the words of an eccentric lieutenant of artillery — a musical □an, and odd fish generally — who once informed his tailor, who eemed over anxious about "that little bill of his," that "he wouldn't pay it then, and the Lord in his infinite mercy ODly new when he could,'- and it's just so with this Kansas cold weather. But we would have you to understand that we shall, /bile it lasts, warm our indignation at its continuance, and thus erify the old adage about its being " a very cold breeze which 'lows nobody any good." But it is biting, though, m sober ear- est, cold enough, in fact, to freeze the Free State question and hereby make Kansas respectable in spite of herself. Reports from Lawrence say that " the enemy " are still ntrenching themselves — a waste of labor — if it be true ; do iey fancy that the " Border Ruffians" are going to enter upon campaign, even with their " sumraum bo?ium" — a fight with le Abolitionists as an incentive in such a temperature as this ? Vhy, the Missouri army of invasion would be out of necessa- es ere it had marched twenty miles ; for all the whisky in 10 218 THE PRELIMINARY HORN. " Pukedom " would not last the Pro-Slavery forces — with the mercury below zero — for even a single day. No, Free Soilism may bless its favoring stars, for it may now exclaim with Nicho- las (late of all the Russias), " Have we not Generals January and February to fight our battles ?" and Brigadier Jack Frctet too, with his rimy beard and icy armor of proof? Pooh! niggers and Pro-Slavery Jieu can't stand such a climate as this. But we are weary of this hum-drum monotony — our mission life don't suit us — as a specimen which we will give you pre- sently shall most abundantly prove. So, blow high — blow low •—come ice, or hail, or snow — we take the Lawrence road to-mor- row, where we shall both see and hear for ourself. We are therefore determined and shall start for the late " seat of war," from whence, if we escape the Abolitionists, and be not congealed upon the road, the world in general may expect to hear from ne within eight- and-forty hours from this present writing. But we promised the reader a sample of the half-dozen dreary days which we spent at Shawnee Mission. So let us shorter our style and write it up in brief. Morning at the Mission. — Six o'clock, and the mercury twc dozen degrees below zero. Scene. — A large double-beddec room, with ill-made windows, a badly-hung door, and not ever, a spark in the fire-place, its sole tenant being " Our Corres pondent," just then in bed, the tip of his intellectual nose, of whose existence he has had serious doubts for the last half-hour being the only feature visible. First, breakfast-bell rings vio lently — no, it don't— but Nigger Bill blows the preliminary horn, which in this instance comes to the same thing. " Ou Correspondent" is reminded of Tennyson's " Bugle Song," whicl -ie proceeds to quote, with a difference, as follows : — " Blow, bugle, blow — the kitchen-maid's replying, And answer echoes, answer — frying— frying— frying. MAKING AN EFFORT. 219 " Our Correspondent 99 meditates. Breakfast is a necessity not to be had at Shawnee Mission after eight o'clock, a. m., but the road to that necessity lies through getting up, and getting up with the mercury down, is a fact of the stubbornest kind, a very jackass of a fact. "Our Correspondent" continues to reflect, and finally extends one leg outside of the covering to act as a feeling thermometer, but brings it back again hastily, for the leg doesn't like it ; it might have suffered more, had not " Our Correspondent," like a prudent man, emulated the example of " Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John," by literally " going to bed with his breeches on ;" for if " misery makes strange bed-fellows," there is no reason why it should not suggest strange bed-clothes — particularly where Mackinaws are scarce — which we regret to say is the case at Shawnee Mission. But, to return, we — for "Our Correspondent" takes up too much space — had gotten our pedal extremity into bed again, and were once more resolving ourself into a committee of ways and means when, like a knell, we heard the * Tintinnabulations that so shiveringly swelled Of the bell, the breakfast bell, Ringing out above our head." The foregoing is from Poe's " Song of the Bells," we believe, but we're not certain as to the accuracy of the quotation.' And the signal had its effect, for it was the second and " last time of asking." We "made an effort" — even Mrs. Dombey would have " made an effort," under like circumstances — so we deter- mined to get up, aud accordingly protruded our legs from their, comparatively speaking, comfortable interior of covering ; but don't be alarmed, fair reader, for remember they had breeches on them ; our body followed — we made a desperate 220 THE EASTERN MAIL. jump — and then landed in the middle of one of the very " cold- est circles " off of Brooklyn Heights. As we were already dressed, with the exception of a coat and a pair of half frozen boots, it required only a shake or two — a la Newfoundland dog — to make our toilet, but our ablutions were of the scantiest ; for the bathing conveniences — a tin wash-basin and pitcher — proved themselves to be a practical •commentary upon Sam Weller's suggestion of " Werry delightful climate for them as is well wropped up, as the polar bear remarked, when he vent a skatin' vith his intimate friend— for water in the hand-basin is a mask o' ice, sir." We were, therefore, compelled to sacrifice that virtue, which ranks " next to godliness," at least, for the present ; and then, with a heavy worsted comforter bound round our neck, ran at top speed through the snow-drifted hall, and from thence into the long dining-room, where we took our place upon a wooden bench, with a huge tin coffee-pot, one of a long and illustrious line of tin coffee-pots ; ranged at regular intervals upon the board, for a vis a vis, and forty young Indians, besides a suffi- ciency of " white folks,'" by way of company. Then came a Western breakfast, and then we made a bolt for the Executive office, situated in another building, which we reached by a half beaten path through the piled up snow, where we passed our time between writing and getting "exclusive information" from Governor Shannon, with an occasional visit to the stove to thaw out the benumbed fingers, which could scarcely hold the pen, until the somewhat primitive hour of noon brought us to our dinner, and another journey through the snow ; then came the afternoon with its continuation of our literary labors, varied, perhaps, by the arrival of some chance visitor with news, or it may be, by Woodson's bringing in the Eastern mail from the Westport post-office, when Kansas items were extracted and A KANSAS NIGHT-MARE. 221 read over, and Free State editors with Abolitionist proclivities " handled without gloves," by^the Governor and his suite, until the supper-bell put an end to the discussion. As for the eve- ning, it was but a repetition of the afternoon, prolonged by our scribbling into two or three o'clock in the morning, when we once more ploughed through the snow, on our way *to the main building, in which we would seek out our icy, comfortless cham- ber, and then (all accoutered as we were) scramble into bed, where it was often daybreak before we had grown sufficiently' warm to slumber, and even then, our over-tasked brain would be ridden, as by a nightmare, with Kansas politics, and Kansas news, and Kansas questions in general, till, in our spectre-haunted dreams, Free Stateism took the form of a long-limbed, red-head- ed negro, in a shocking beaver, shambling legs, and dirty white coat ; while Pro-Slavery shook his fist at the apparition from the other side of our couch, in the shape of a ferocious Border- Ruffian, with a slave whip in one hand, and a revolver in the other, until, as somebody says, we would awake, and swear a prayer or two, and then fall to our sleep again. "All of which," to quote from the secretaries, "is respect- fully submitted" as a faint outline of our daily routine of life — if such an existence can be called living — at the Methodist Shawnee Mission. December 29, Evening. — At "old man Harris's" most uncom- fortable " hotel," in Westport. We are once more settled in our old chamber, which has, at present, an additional tenant, in the person of Major Clarke, the Pottawatomie Indian Agent, elsewhere alluded to. Now, Major Clarke, differing opinions to the contrary notwithstanding, is, to our thinking, a fat, warm- hearted, jovial little man ; and so we like Clarke, and " don't kear " who knows it ; and our reason for fancying him is just this (and a very Irish one at that) there's a deal of fun in him. He has shot one or two men it is true ; has fought a brace of 222 OUR FUXNT LITTLE FRIEND. duels, and it may be more ; but we can't help liking him, for, as we have already said, he has " A marvellous humor of his own." So we shall journey on to Kansas to-morrow in company, and while together, be comrades in all good fellowship. Evening. — Major Clarke and myself have just made ourselves as comfortable as circumstances will permit, by visiting the* rooms of our fellow-lodgers, where we have quietly emptied every wood box, and removed their contents to our own apartment, thereby providing ourselves with a stock of fuel for this night's consumption. A somewhat selfish but very prudent move, sug- gested by the fact that, in " old man Harris's " establishment, a nigger is not to be had, even when stimulated by a dime, unless, indeed, you break the darkey's head daily ; and when ycu do get a servant, it's ten to one that he cuts the fire-wood id inches too short for your stove, and then you may freeze in bed, or out, as you prefer ; or, if you don't know the ways of the house, spend your time and breath in shouting for some sable functionary, who grows stone deaf, on principle, after nine o'clock, P.M. A VISIT FROM COLEMAN. 223 CHAPTER XXIII. coleman's narrative. We have a visitor in our chamber as we write — Mister — every- body is Mister in the democratic Far West — Franklin M. Cole- man, who has gained a Kansas, and perhaps even outside noto- riety from having been " the murderer — so say the Free State prints — of Dow. And we are about to present the reader with a narrative of the circumstances attending his unfortunate rencounter with the deceased, together with the difficulties which led to it, as we have taken the story down from Coleman's own lips. We do this for two reasons ; in the first place, the killing of Dow (a Free State man) seems to be generally referred to and decided upon as one of the initial — if not the initial point of the recent Kansas difficulties. And in the second place, this matter has been so garbled, both in the communications of interested letter-writers, and in the paragraphs of a one-sided local press, that we feel it is but just to give to the world, for the first time, the statement of the principal actor in this most deplorable tragedy. It runs thus : franklin m. coleman's narrative. "I am a native of Brook County in Virginia. I left that State in 1849, and removed to Louisa County Iowa, from whence I emigrated to Kansas City, Mo., in April, 1854. Here 224 COLEMAN SETTLES AT HICKORY POINT. I kept the Union Hotel until September of last year. From this place I moved with my family, consisting of a wife and child (a boy of six years old), to Hickory Point, on the Santa Fe trail, distant some ten miles from Lawrence, K. T. " At this time, the greater part of the land near Hickory Point was held by three Indianians, who occupied, partly by their own claims, but mostly as the representatives of certain friends of theirs in Indiana, who, though non-residents, claimed title by them as their proxies. Time passed on, and the absentee claimants ne- glected to comply with the requisitions of the ' Squatter Laws/ thereby forfeiting their claims. Three of their claims were accordingly taken by Missourians, who learned that they were lying vacant, in November of 1854. Some few days after these claims had been entered upon, the absentee Indianian claimants arrived. This led to one of the 'jumped claims' being referred to arbitration — the arbitrators being twelve in number, a majo- rity of whom belonged to the Free State party. It was settled by these in favor of the Missourians. On the strength of this decision, in partnership with John M. Banks, a Free State man, I 'jumped a claim' held by a man named Frasier, a non-resident of Kansas. We notified this person that we had 'jumped his claim,' and as we did not wish to take any undue advantage of him, would give it up if he could show any legal right to the land in question. We afterwards discovered that Frasier had sold this claim to one Jacob Branson, then residing in Missouri but formerly from Indiana. This we learned from Branson him- self, who came out forthwith to Hickory Point (I had known Branson while iu Kansas City), I remarked to Branson that I had taken the Frasier claim ; he replied : ' I have bought that claim from Frasier, and paid him fifty dollars for it, and I intend to have it.' I then said to Branson, that the claim in question was forfeited by Frasier's non-compliance with ' the Squatter Laws,' and that I was willing to submit it to arbitration. This COLEMAN QUARRELS WITH BRANSON. 225 he refused, stating that if the laws took a man's claim away he would defend himself and have his claim, or ' die right where he was.' I then closed our interview by telling him that it was not worth our while to talk about it. On the morning following this conversation, Branson came (during my absence), to my house, with a wagon-load of household stuff, accompanied by Louis Farley, a Free State man from Indiana — Mr. Banks and a young man named Graves — a Free-soiler — were the only men at my house on the occasion of Branson's visit. Branson and his companion tried to force his property into my dwelling. Banks requested them to let their goods stand until they could send for me ; he did so, and I came immediately. Upon enter- ing my house, Branson and Farley being within, I reminded Branson that he had said that ' he would have my claim or die upon it.' I then drew a single-barrelled pistol from under the head of the bed and told him that I should defend myself, and if he was determined to settle the matter in that way, I was pre- pared to do so. Farley then attempted to mediate between us. During this conversation, Branson kept his hand upon an 'Allen's revolver' which he had with him in his pocket, but made no motion to draw the weapon, nor did I threaten him with my pistol, further than to exhibit it as a proof of my inten- tion to protect myself. I cannot remember the precise date of this difficulty; I think it occurred in November, 1854. Branson and myself then agreed to compromise the matter by submitting our difficulties to an arbitration. This was accordingly done, and the arbitrators, twelve in number, and mostly Pro-Slavery men, decided against my partner and myself, insomuch, that instead of allowing our claim to the whole Frasier tract, amount- ing to two hundred and forty acres, they awarded one hundred and sixty acres to Branson as his proportion. Branson then promised, in the presence of the arbitrators, to measure off his share. But this he subsequently refused to do. Banks and 10* 226 white's cabin burnt. myself then reminded him of his agreement to submit to the decision of the arbitrators, adding that we desired peace. He said that he did not crave our friendship, and that we should never have a single foot of the lumber which grew upon the greater part of the claim. He then stated that he had measured the entire ' Frasier claim/ with one of his neighbors, and foa td it to contain but one hundred and twenty acres — called us a set of base thieves, who had swindled him out of his rights, and with whom he wished to have no intercourse, etc. We then parted for our several homes. "Banks, Graves, and myself then measured off the claim, allotting to Branson his full proportion (all timber land) of 160 acres, and marking the boundary line which divided our claim. This division was never accepted by Branson. He still claimed the whole tract. Branson then turned his attention to strength- ening the Free State party — to which he himself belonged — h the vicinity of Hickory Point. This he did by encouraging Free State men to settle about him, giving them timber from his land, and informing them of vacant claims. In pursuance of this object, he and his friends invited a man named Dow, an Ohioan and Abolitionist, to occupy a claim adjoining my own. This claim rightly belonged to one William White, of Westport, Mo., a Pro-Slavery man, who had made some improvements on it, and therefore held it under the ' Squatter Laws.' The ' improvement ' was a log-cabin, which was burnt down by the Free State party, on or about the day of Dow's arrival at Hickory Point. Dow then entered upon White's claim and commenced building. Upon this, twelve men of the Pro-Slavery party at Hickory Point, I being one of their number, waited upon Dow, to inquire into the 'jumping' of White's claim, and the burning of his house. We accused Dow of being accessory to the act. He asserted his innocence as regarded the destruc- tion of White's cabin. Upon being asked if he was not aware BRANSON AND DOW THREATEN COLEMAN. 227 of the intention of the Free State people to destroy it, he answered that that was his business, and none of ours. I then observed to him, that as my claim adjoined his, I would be his nearest neighbor, and should be very sorry to suspect that the man who lived next to me could be guilty of such an act, but as he had affirmed his innocence, as regarded the burning of White's house, I would (if it proved to be true), be a kind neighbor to him, and added that he was welcome to visit at my house if he wished to come. He thanked me, and we parted. These occurrences took place during the winter of 1854 and '55, and from this date up to the very day on which I killed Dow, I met him on several occasions, and always in a friendly manner, although I had at various times heard of- his threatening me. "In July or August of 1855, a branch of the Kansas Free State secret military organization was established among "the Free State settlers around Hickory Point. Brauson being their commander. Not long after this, I learned that he had not only threatened to use this force to put down and set at defiance the Territorial laws, but had stated, on several occasions, that he had an old grudge to settle with me — that he would like to meet me — that I should not live in the Territory, but that he would have his revenge before I quitted it, &c. It was also reported to me, some four days previous to my rencounter with Dow, that he (Dow), had declared that 'he would beat my d — d brains out, if I went into the grove ' — on my own claim — 1 to cut timber/ I was also warned by a Free State man, -a friend of mine named Spar, ' that my life was in danger from the ill will harbored against me by Branson and Dow.' " On, or about the 27th of November, 1855, between 11 and 12 o'clock a. m., I was at work making a lime-kiln, on my claim, in company with a young man named Harvey Moody. — Moody is a Free State man — I had been busy there since early in the morning, as I had been for several days previous. Dow came to 228 COLEMAN JDK1VEN FKUM HIS CLAIM. the place where we were working ; he was alone, and apparently unarmed. He quarrelled with me about my claim — said he intended to stop our working there, and after making several threats left. I continued on with my work. In a short time after this visit from Dow, Moody called out to me, ' Here comes Branson and Dow.' On looking up I saw them approaching, armed with Sharpe's rifles. Both Moody and myself were entirely unarmed. I immediately left my claim without waiting for them to come up, for it was my belief that they intended to kill me, and were then coming upon me with arms in their hands for that purpose. Moody, being a Free State man, remained at his work. Moody has since informed me that on coming up they ordered him from the claim, stating that they would not hurt him 1 this time/ but if they caught him there again, they would do him an injury ; they furthermore said, that they 'just wanted to see me, and asked Moody where I was ? to which he replied, that ' I had gone home.' Upon hearing this, Dow took his gun and followed me. Moody states it as his belief, that they would have killed me if I had stayed for their coming. From my claim, I went immediately to the house of Mr. Hargis, a Pro-Slavery man, whose claim bordered upon my own, informed bim of my being ordered off, and begged him, as I did not wish to trespass upon my neighbors, to come to my house that after- noon and assist me in establishing the dividing lines between his (Hargis) aud my claim : this he promised to do. I then armed myself with a double-barrelled fowling-piece, loaded with buck- shot, intending upon going back to my work, to defend myself if again interfered with, and returned to Hargis's house, who had promised to accompany me, as above stated, that afternoon, with Buckley, a Pro-Slavery man, and one or two others, to assist in establishing the lines between Hargis and myself. Upon reaching Hargis's house, Buckley said that he was going to a whisky-store which stands opposite a blacksmith's shop, on the COLEMAN ARMS HIMSELF. 229 Santa F6 trail, and which was half a mile distant from Hargis's. Buckley desired us not to wait for him, as he would meet us at ,my house, and left accordingly. Finding that my friends were detained longer than I had anticipated, I concluded to go out and see if I could discover anything of Buckley. In doing so, I passed by the house of William McKinney ; here I found McKin- ney engaged in building a chimney, and stopped to talk with him for a short time. Not seeing anything of Buckley, I started for home, and had continued on for a hundred and fifty yards, or thereabouts, when I entered the Santa Fe trail ; as I did so, I came most unexpectedly upon Dow, who was walking along the road, in the same direction as that in which I was going. On approaching him, he turned his head, and waited for me to come up. He was unarmed, with the exception of a wagon-skien — a piece of iron some two feet in length, and a most dangerous weapon in the hands of so powerful and determined a man as Dow is represented to have been. — Dow then entered into con- versation with me about the claim difficulty, and continued to use hard language upon this subject until we had walked together as far as my house, w T hich stands off the Santa Fe road about 75 yards. We must have gone side by side for some 400 or 500 yards. During this conversation I urged him to compromise the matter, as I did not wish to have any trouble with my neighbors. When we got opposite to my dwelling, I moved off the road to go towards home. Dow walked on his way for a few paces, and then turned round and re-commenced quarrelling, high words passed, and Dow advanced upon me with the wagon- skien, which he was carrying in his hand, raising it as he did so, in an attitude to strike. I levelled my gun as he came on, brought it to bear upon him, and pulled the trigger ; the cap explo- ded but not the charge. Dow then paused, and turned as if to go away. Seeing this, I put my gun down upon the ground, which Dow had no sooner perceived than he faced towards me, and 230 COLEMAN KILLS DOW. again, advauced upon me with the skien, at the same time crying out, with an oath, ' You've bursted one cap at me, and you'll never live to burst another hearing this, and believing that my life was in danger, I again levelled my gun and fired upon him, as he came rushing on ; the shot struck him (as I have since ascertained) in the neck and breast, and he fell — dead. K I did not go up to the body ; but went immediately to my house, and told my wife that I had killed Dow; that I had been forced into it, having no other alternative to save my own life. I told her not to be uneasy about me ; that I was going to sur- render myself up to *be tried, and had no fears for the conse- quences, as my conscience acquitted me of any blame, I having acted only in self defence/ "Though I was not at the time aware of it, this transaction was seen by my friends Hargis and Moody, and also by a man named Wagoner, a Missourian, who happened to be in their company at the time. Wagoner is an enemy of mine. They were then on their way to ' kill a beef ' in the timber not very far from my house, at which Hargis and Moody intended (as before stated), to stop, as they passed, and assist Buckley and myself in running the lines between my claim and that of Har- gis in accordance with my request. " In the evening several persons came to my house, and advised me, for fear of the Free State secret military organization — of which, as I have before mentioned, Branson, Dow's friend was one of the commanders — to leave the neighborhood. I at first declined to go, stating, as a reason for so doing, that such an act might be construed into a desire on my part to elude the officers of justice. They then suggested that I should deliver myself up to Governor Shannon, or some other fit person, at a distance from the scene of difficulty, where they believed that I would not only be in great personal danger, but have no COLEMAN GIVES HIMSELF UP. 231 chance to obtain an impartial hearing. I finally yielded to their entreaties, and left that night for Shawnee Mission, Governor Shannon's residence, which I reached upon the ensuing day, and immediately — in the temporary absence of the governor — deli- vered myself up to S. J. Jones, the sheriff of Douglas .County (is which the killing took place), who happened to be in the vicinity of the Mission at the time of my arrival. Upon the return of Governor Shannon, His Excellency directed Sheriff Jones to convey me in custody to Lecompton, the county seat of Douglas, which he did. On my arrival there I was dis- charged upon giving bail to the amount of five hundred dol- lars, and am now only awaiting the assembling of a court to stand my trial." We have read our fair copy of this paper over to Coleman, who endorses it as being entirely correct. The so-called "murderers" statement is now before the reader, nor do we intend to add either note or comment save this. So far as we could judge from Coleman's impartial and dis- passionate manner while stating these alleged facts, we should say that he really believed what he was telling us. Whether his narrative will or will not be sustained by evidence must be proven on his trial by the testimony adduced. It will soon be settled by a judicial inquiry ; and, in the meanwhile, we have no disposition to influence public opinion either for or against the accused. Coleman is considered a rather good-looking man, of " gen- teel appearance," with dark hair and beard ; he is about five feet eleven in height ; is called amiable in his disposition, and has a wife and two children at present residing some four miles from Westport, Mo., whither they have fled for fear of the Free State party at Hickory Grove. Governor Shannon informs us that he had commissioned 232 COLEMAN DECLINES BEING A JUSTICE. Coleman as a Justice of the Peace just previous to the killing of Dow ; his credentials, however, although made out and .signed, had not jet been forwarded when the rencounter took place. Coleman has declined to receive this commission, in accordance with the suggestion of Governor Shannon, until his conduct in killing Dow has been judicially investigated and decided upon. OUR OVER-DRESSED COMPANION. 233 CHAPTER XXIY FOR LAWRENCE DIRECT. Dec 30. — Morning, at " old man'' Harris's — breakfast over, and our travelling conveyance, a buggy with two livery-stable mules— mere rats — at the door. " Our Correspondent" wad- dles forth, equipped to encounter the cold weather in its most cutting form — that is to say, in a ride across the snow-covered and unsheltered prairies of Kansas. Let us give you an inside peep at his nether integuments. Imprimis — he has put on two oairs of woollen socks, ditto of drawers, ditto of pantaloons, tern two coats, item an overcoat, item buffalo overshoes, gloves covered inside and out with fur, and a comforter whose ntricate folds leave only one eye visible. As for the Major, le was so completely enveloped in buckskins — not to mention mder-rigging — that he almost literally carried his wardrobe ipon his back ; indeed he was over-dressed — a fact which he was lestined to prove to his own satisfaction, as well as ours, by a ;umble in the snow, where he lay kicking like a huge green tur- ;le when you place it upon its back — until we were enabled to estrain our laughter sufficiently to rescue our friend from a predicament where he might have kicked till " the crack of loom," had no person been at hand to render assistance. Our first halt was at Shawnee Mission, where Governor Shannon vished us God-speed and a happy deliverance ; and from thence ve whipped up our lazy beasts, beguiling the tediousness of the 234 THE OLD PRIEST. way with song and jest, and merry stories of frontier expe- riences, until the twilight hour brought us to Donaldson's, dis- tant from Westport by eleven miles — for our start was a late one, and we had consumed the greater part of the day in our halt at the Mission. Besides the usual inmates of Donaldson's house — who is him- self a gruff, and not particularly prepossessing frontiersman— we found the remainder of our own party, consisting of Doctor Rodrigue, of Lecompton ; his son, a young man of some twenty years of age ; and a daughter, quite a pretty girl, who, if we guess the young lady's age correctly, was only sweet sixteen, and just about to encounter the hardships of a first trip across the Border. There w r as yet another member of the Doctor's family, who merits something more than what the "Home Journal'' used to call 11 mere mention." He was, if report is to be credited, a man of many fortunes — a Prussian by birth, who had seen real service in European wars, where he had worn his epau- lets on many a hard-fought field ; he told us, moreover, that he was present when the poet-soldier, Korner, he of " the Lyre and Sword," received his death wound, and assisted at his burial : he says Korner was killed by a prisoner, who fired upon him from a baggage-wagon, with a musket, which had been le f t carelessly within his reach. But our Prussian had laid down his military rank for ever, and taken up, instead (no uncommon change by the way) the vows and habit of a Roman Catholic priest ; indeed, it is not improbable that, as the Doctor and his family were enthusiastic followers of that persuasion, that he may have been accompany- ing their party as their Father confessor and spiritual guide. • But we could not help thinking, as we gazed upon those strongly marked features, and that yet powerful, though now somewhat time-bowed form, that the priesthood had spoiled a good dragoon, and that the padre, like pious Friar Tuck, might still handle the THE SILENT BLESSING. 235 quarterstaff quite as effectually as his breviary. Yet there was something touching, too — when we went to take our homely eve- ning meal, in the fire-lighted apartment, which was both kitchen and supper-room — in the attitude of this war-worn old veteran, as he stood for a moment beside his chair, while he bent his head, and asked a silent blessing upon our food. It was, in- deed, just such a picture as some of the grand old master's would have loved to paint. The man was a study in himself ; and the rough cabin, with its yet more unpolished accessories, just the surroundings for a highly-finished interior of the Flem- ish school. Supper was over ; we had drawn our chairs nearer to the open fire-place ; the winter night was dark without, and the blazing brands threw a cheerful glow upon the inmates of Don- aldson's best sitting-room ; the old priest had produced his short pipe, and tobacco-bag, and was now smoking placidly, with his dark eyes looking so intently the while at the glowing embers upon the hearth, that we almost fancied he must be reading some day-dream of the past in their -ever-changing forms. The Major too, had divested himself of one or two courses of cloth- ing, at least, so far as to permit of his bending his short, stout legs without outside assistance ; and we, "The Correspondent," were trying vainly to get what is called a corn-cob pipe to draw, which, by the way, is a peculiarly Western institution, made by digging out the inside of a piece of cob, and then intro- ducing a hollow reed for the stem, when the quick gallop of a horse's feet over the frozen ground, and a hallo from without, announced the arrival of another guest, who entered forthwith, in the per- son of a tall, athletic, and thoroughly benumbed-looking young ,man, who strode up to the fire-place, threw back his cloak, and extended his chilled hands towards the blazing log heap. As he approached more closely to the fire-place, Major Clarke glanced at the new comer, and with a " How are you, Doak P 236 BAD NEWS FOR THE MAJOR. at once grasped him by the hand. It was his brother-in-law, who had left " House on the Prairie," the Major's residence, that morning, and had ridden thus far on his road to Wcstpo-rt, whither he was going to meet the Major j to whom he was the bearer of important letters, containing intelligence of an alarm- ing and highly irritating nature. One of these epistles wts from Doctor Johnson, of whom we have already spoken as having been shot at by some would-be-assassin, on one or two occasions, but without effect. The other was from the Major's wife, with whom we had the pleasure of a very brief acquaintance, during our visit at her house, which, slight as it was, gave us a very high opinion of the good sense and true feminine courage of our fair hostess. Doctor Johnson's letter, of which the Major very kindly per- mitted us to make a copy, reads as follows ; — House on the Prairie, Kansas Territory, December 30, 1355. Dear Major : Rufus, the bearer of this letter, will inform you that matters are fast coming to a desperate conclusion with us — a crisis which requires both prompt and energetic action is approaching. Your family are not safe here even for a single night. Your house is watched as though It were a den of thieves. Your dog has disappeared ; we presume he has been decoyed away and killed to prevent his giving an alarm. One of your carriage horses has been poisoned, and, in addition to this, an attempt was made to fire your house. This occurred last night, between twelve and one o'clock a.m. It was fortunate that we discovered the fire before it was too late ; we were but just in time to save the building. Had it 1 otherwise, God only knows what would have become of your family ; for, even supposing that they had escaped the flames, they would have been exposed to the danger of perishing in the bitter cold of this inclement season, ere they could have reached the nearest neighbor's house. (Major Clarke's residence is three-quarters of a mile from any house, and the mer- cury at the time stood at twenty degrees below zero, and it would have been almost a miracle, under such circumstances, if they had escaped fi ing.) But to come to the point : you cannot live here ; it is risking too much ; the very existence of your family is at stake ; your own life is AN ATTEMPT TO FIRE CLARKE'S DWELLING. 237 in imminent danger ; you would not be safe here — no, not for a single day. If you were here it would only aggravate the evil. For God's sake, remove vour family. Take them to Missouri, or up among the Pottawatomie Indians. They would be safe there. Your property, too, is in imminent danger. Every day brings the intelligence of some new act of outrage — house- burnings, brutal threatenings, and attempted assassinations. How can we go on living thus, in God's name ? Is there no law in Kansas ? To whom are we to look for aid? How is all this to end ? Are our lives to be menaced —is our property to be destroyed — and are women and children to be driven from their desolated homes, without the upraising of an arm to stay the per- petrators of these acts of lawless violence ? Is there no power vested in our Governor — no protection to be obtained from the Executive ? Or must the law-abiding citizens of Kansas be driven into the terrible alternative of defending, by Lynch law and armed violence, their homes and firesides ? If we have laws why are they not enforced ? Something must be done for our relief, and that speedily. The foregoing is all which would be interesting to the reader. It is written by Dr. George W. Johnson, who is — as we have elsewhere stated — a son of Governor Johnson of Virginia. A postscript from William H. Doak, Esq., a brother-in-law of Major Clarke's — the bearer of the documents being named Rufus — endorses and corroborates the foregoing statements, and adds that they are going to get some of their neighbors to assist in defending Major Clarke's house until arrangements can be made for the removal of his family. The letter from Mrs. Clarke is of similar import. Major Clarke's residence is at present occupied by two fami- lies — this has been the case since the breaking out of the Kansas troubles. Among its inmates may be numbered two females and five small children. Had they been left houseless, on the bitter night of December thirtieth, to find their way through the frozen snow to the nearest dwelling (three-quarters of a mile distant), it is most probable that some of these little ones would 238 LYNCH LAW THREATENED. have fallen victims to the terrible state of things which now exists in some sections of Kansas. The facts connected with this incendiary attempt, as related to us by Mr. Rufns Doak, the bearer of the letters, are these ■ Between 12 and 1 o'clock on the morning of the thirtieth of December, Mr Doak and Dr. Johnson were awakened by the appearance of smoke and a smell as if of burning tar in the room in which they were sleeping. They immediately arose, and on making examination discovered fire under one of the rooms, adjoining that in which Major Clarke's family were sleep- ing. They found, upon looking, that the underpinning of this portion of the house (a frame one) had been removed, and a fire of light wood sticks built underneath. To render the destruction of the house more certain, other combustibles were placed in such a position as to feed the flames. An outbuilding also filled with hay, gathered from a neighboring stack. Tl - had been ignited, but did not burn out — probably from the hay having being wet with snow. The flames were discovered just in time to save the house. Major Clarke and Dr. Johnson are the only persons living in the vicinity of Lawrence who signed the address to the people, recently published by the " Law and Order Convention," which assembled at Leavenworth City in November last. MIDNIGHT. P. S. — Information has just reached us from a reliable source, that a party of Major Clark's neighbors, well-meaning, but inconsiderate men, have it in contemplation to turn out, investi- gate the affair thoroughly, arrest the suspected persons, and if sufficient evidence be adduced, lynch the offenders. A man named Jones is more particularly threatened. We understood that it was in contemplation to tie him up and whip him into a confession. Major Clarke has, however, with great good sense, FOR DREAMLAND DIRECT. 239 determined to discountenance any act on the part of the Pro- Slavery people, which might even be construed into an attempt to take the law into their own hands. He will use every ex- ertion to bring the perpetrators of these unauthorized acts to justice, but will do so in a strictly legal way. We shall continue our journey at daybreak — he to repress any ill-judged demon- stration on the part of his neighbors, whose indignation — he tells us— has been highly excited by these repeated attempts to do him injury ; and we to gather facts which will enable us to report " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," without fear, favor, or affection. It is to be feared, however, that the Major will arrive too late. Ere our dispatch was concluded, the four inches of candle —which our amiable host, with a shrewd eye to economy, had declared, was enough, as he reckoned, for all thar pen-work that we would want to do — were almost burned down, and as its last line was written, fairly flickered in the socket. We hesitated for a moment; listened to the deep-drawn snores of our neighbors, and then doffed our outer garments, and after groping about for a while in a sort of Egyptian darkness (though, for that matter, we never could understand why it should be darker in Egypt than anywhere else), found our way to the unoccupied half of the Major's feather-bed, where we burrowed in, so utterly wearied both in mind and body, that we were in the far-off land of dreams almost upon the instant that our tired head touched the pillow. 240 NEW YEAR'S EVE IN . THE WILDERNESS. ■ CHAPTER XXV. NEW YEAR'S EVE BY A LOG-CABIN HEARTH. . December 31st, the last day of poor old 1855. — And very early, in this Polar Region, of a winter morning to boot. But early as it is, we should have been on our way full an hour ago, had we not been delayed by the stupidity of one of Donaldson's negroes, who has been chasse-ing up and down half an acre of timber, in pursuit of our mule-rats, who, though lazy enough in the hai- ness, would seem to be more than sufficiently vivacious when released from its thraldom. Nine o'clock. — Off at last, with a freezing wind blowing keenly, and a twenty miles' ride before us to Bean's on the Wakarusa, where we expect to pass the night ; our way laid for the most part over long ridges of prairie ; the dreariest of dreary winter roads ; but the Major and myself had made up our minds to " 'joy ourselves," as the darkeys say at Christmas time ; and after our fashion, we did, for we begun singing songs most awfully out of tune, and telling all sorts of " yarns," ind managed to keep even with the unpropitious weather, until within five miles of our stopping-place, and then Jack Frost got the better of us ; we grew silent ; the Major swore he was " most froze," and not another word was spoken, except to the mules, and only then in the way of admonition, until " Our Correspondent " was aroused from the half sleeping state into which he had fallen, by an imitation of a Pottawatomie war- A SWEET, SUNSHINY FACE. 241 hoop from the Major, and a cry of " Thank the Lord, there's Bean's cabin at last," as we drove up to the rail fence which formed its apology for an enclosure. We had not been housed over half an hour when Doctor Rodrigue's ambulance arrived, and reinforced our party by the addition of its hungry and half- frozen inmates. New Year's eve. — We are all gathered about the fire in the already described best room of Bean's log-cabin " hotel;" and bad is the best here. There is a huge fire upon the hearth, and we draw our chairs as closely up to it as the number of the circle to be warmed will permit. It is certainly a very mixed assem- bly — this impromptu New Year's eve party of ours — such an one, indeed, as is only united by chance. Let us give you a few of the principal heads. And first for the ladies, " God bless them," say we to-night, wherever they may be, by log-cabin hearths or in city chambers, whether high or low, rich or poor, matron or maid, once more we say God bless them all, for they shall be included in our toast to-night, if Bean's whisky be sufficiently drinkable to permit of our \i wishing luck n in a glass of the beverage to old, dying 1855, ere he makes his midnight flitting for parts uuknown. But let's return to the ladies. Mistress Bean, a fat, mid- dle-aged, and withal right good-natured body, occupies a cosy seat, if such a thing is to be found in an apartment which admits the wintry blast at every nook and cranny, even without counting the windows that the red cow knocked her horn through some ten days syne. The corner opposite to our stout hostess is graced by the pre- sence of the fair Miss Rodrigue, whose sweet, sunshiny face, shaded by a profusion of dark brown hair, and yet girlish form, would seem more in keeping with the superfluities of a metropo- litan drawing-room, than with the rude furniture and very pri- mitive residence of our landlord, Mr. Bean. Beside Miss " 242 PEN AND INK PORTRAITS. Rodrigue sits her father, a short, slenderly-built, keen-eyed and almost raven-haired man, with military whiskers, and an intellec- tual brow, whose manner is that of a polished gentleman, not the gentleman of the saloons, but that of a man who has seen the world, knows life thoroughly, and has studied mankind,, until mankind has become a readable book. He is, therefore, quite at his ease, and can accommodate himself to the eccentricities of those about him, without stepping out of his own calm digni- fied style. To the Doctor, circumstances are slaves — not masters. Then we have Doctor Rodrigue's son, and his father confessor, the old soldier-priest, who have already had their sittings for oui pen aud ink portraits. And then we must not forget our com panion of the road, the Major, who sits nursing his leg— the very picture of drollery and good-heartedness — and peering into the blaze, as if he had just caught the profile of some new- born comicality which he was imaging forth among the red-eyec coals. Then, there's " old mau Bean," who was once a soldier — om of Harney's dragoons on the Indian frontier, years ago, who wil tell you still that the old General can swear a little harder, aoc fight a little faster than any man of his feet and inches — som( six feet three — whom he has ever looked upon before or since And then last, but very far from least, there's " Oar Cor respondent," a long, thin, high-browed every-day specimen of New Yorker humanity — bearded — in the absence of the barber ous — like a pard, of whom the least said the soonest mende 1. And now, as we have somewhat minutely introduced oui dramatis persona to your notice, we will endeavor to increas< the reader's obligation by telling him something of what the} say, and as we intend to treat their talk very much in the sanu way as you may compliment these, our scribblings — by skimming it, don't quarrel with us if our report should come to you in £ somewhat disjointed and fragmentary style. For we will yen THE RESIGNED LIEUTENANT. 243 ure to say that an evening's chat never took a wider range han did our fire-side conversation upon the New Year's Eve of 856 for the subject treated, and not badly treated either in ome instances, comprised the state of the country, politics, aore particularly those of Kansas Territory — " the war" — rom a recapitulation of which may prudence deliver us — Spiritu- lism — ghost stories, strange coincidences, Border life — crops ndians, and Divinity, with now and then, some sly allusions to \ew York modes and manners, with all their extravagance of oops, flounces, and flirtations. So we cry place for a yarn or wo, and as politics leads the van of our multiplicity of headings, r e will introduce anecdote No. 1., which is a veritable yarn, y which we mean not a made-up lie — a fiction founded upon ilsehood, but a dressed up truth which came to us in a home- 5un garb. Ara we to be blamed, then, if we should present it ) you in a silken gown ? It may be called POLITICAL ADVICE GRATIS. We would recommend the following to politicians going West, id especially to those who are about visiting Kansas. There was, once upon a time, a certain lieutenant in the navy ? Uncle Sam, who, like a sensible man, came finally to the con- usion that " going down to the sea in ships" was a humbug, id " doing business upon the great waters" a very great bore; short, he resigned, and as republics are proverbially ungrate- 1, found it necessary to seek out some new field of action, in hich to mow a living for himself ; he cogitated deeply, for it as au important step ; his "bread and butter" were in the scale, id it is hardly to be wondered at that " 'he inexhaustible sources of the growing West " should have kicked the beam the choice of location, the ( more so as there are great open- a;s for business-hunting young men in " those diggin's," even thout counting the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Well, our 244 POLITICAL ADVICE GRATIS. resigned lieutenant made up his mind to emigrate, and wa seriously engaged in making the necessary preparations for g doing, when an old politician, a warm friend of our sailor- dropped in to give him some farewell advice. u My dear said he, " you are going West. It a great country — a wonderful country. You are young and et terprising ; you will enter into political life, and in all huma probability be elected to Congress. Now, let me give you a fe practical hints, which you will find invaluable in stumping among the " Hoosiers," they are the result of twenty years' wor ing in the political harness. I adopted them as my sheet ancho for the last fifteen years of that period, and my only regret that I didn't do so during the first five. They are easy to and not hard to practise, for as ' brevity is the soul of wit/ reduced the whole matter to these three simple rules : "1. In the Western country never tell a lie politically, for y< are sure to be found out — therefore be honest." "2. In the Western country never tell the truth politically, f somebody will be ass enough to dispute with you, which leads argument — therefore don't." " 3. In the Western country never have anything to do with n tionery politically — meaning thereby, pen, ink and paper — for leads to writing, which is the most irretrievable error of a for though that which is spoken may be denied — that which written — can't be — therefore eschew writing as you would t Devil." Whether our resigned lieutenant followed these very excehV suggestions, and went to Congress from some border district a running comm .ntary upon their worth, we are most unforj nately not able to say — that he prospered pecuniarily wo doi not, for who does not know that Jack never fares better tb when " you turn him out to grass." Under the Theological head of our New Year's Eve log-cab- THE JOLLY MAN'S STORY. 245 re chat, v we remember nothing more edifying than the following, 'Inch its narrator, the Jolly Man, may, for aught we kjiow j the contrary, have cribbed from the " splinters" of some bscure Far Western country newspaper ; but cribbed or not, it m't bad, and moreover, it was related to us as being strictly rue ; the reader may therefore regard it as a veritable incident in be life of a distinguished man, who united great talents with a onsiderable amount of eccentricity. But the Jolly Man shall ell his own story in his own way, without further preamble from is. He calls it : FANATICISM REBUKED — AN ANECDOTE OF AARON BURR. " It was on a bright Sabbath morning, and in a certain rural illage, which, for convenience sake, shall be called Mud Hollow, hat the incident occurred which I am about to relate. The church-going bell ; had ceased ringing, and the little wooden neeting-house was already crowded to excess, for a 'revival' vas going on, and all Mud Hollow was on fire with the anxiety )f its people for the welfare of their souls. While things were n this truly commendable condition, the church-door opened gently, and an aged man walked noiselessly in — he paused for a noment as he entere % d, and looked timidly round, as if seeking or a vacant pew, but the worshippers in that immediate vicinity vere all too busily engaged in listening to a ' fire and brimstone ' lelineation of the horrors to be expected in the worse world to :ome — which a very Methodistical-looking personage, a vinegar- aced compound of white neck-handkerchief and hymn book, was lelivering in the most approved sledge-hammer style — to pay any ^articular attention to the advent of a new arrival. Aaron 3urr, for such was the old man's celebrated name, accordingly iontinued on, and was walking, hat in hand, up the narrow, 246 AN ANECDOTE OF AARON BURR. middle aisle, to seek out, perchance, some more charitable Christian, who might be moved by the grey-haired Strang r feeble appearance to offer him the courtesy of a resting-place But if such were his expectation it was doomed to be disap- pointed, for Burr found himself obliged to continue on, and war. still advancing, though the 'anxious benches' were cL hand, when the preacher paused abruptly in his harangue, extended his hand and cried out, as he pointed the fore-fing( : r directly at his venerable hearer : " 1 Thar — thar comes a child of the Devil — a hoary-headed sin- ner — and ef he don't repent and turn from the error of his ways, he'll be damned — damned — damned to the lowest depths of fiery perdition, and I shall bear witness against him before the Judg- ment Seat of God.' " The effect of this outburst seemed electrical. Burr stopped short in his tracks as if struck with a sudden paralysis. Bat his moment of astonishment, or it may be of speechless indigna- tion, at the indignity which had just been offered him, was soou over, for in an instant his course of action was decided upon, as, raising his trembling right arm to enforce attention, he proceeded to rebuke the impertinence of the ill-bred fanatic, who had so gratuitously insulted him, in the following words, and it is said that you might have heard a pin fall, in the intense silence of that over-crowded building, as the startled audience listened eagerly to their delivery : " ' Ladies and Gentlemen,' said Burr, ' with your good par- son's permission, I should be pleased if you would permit me to say a very few words. You may perhaps, be aware, that my life has beeu one of many experiences, and I may add that in the course of those experiences, it has been my painful, although not unusual lot, to come in contact with some scoundrels, out among all the villians of whom I have ever heard, or even read A WESTERN AMAZON. 247 of in the calenders of human crime, I know none so -base — so unmitigated^— so vile — and so utterly irreclaimable — as the transgressor who turns States Evidence.' V Need I add, that he of the neck-handkerchief and hymn book was 1 no whar,' while the sinner was most unanimously voted un- worthy of the ' doubly deep damnation, which the reverend gen- tleman had so confidently threatened." But our fire-side yarns have taken up too much room already, for with such a " feast of reason and a flow of soul," as our " Wakarusa war," wherewith to regale the reader, we can scarce afford to tickle his literary palate with side dishes. So we must even deny ourself the pleasure of recording good Mistress Bean's very entertaining narrative, of the manner iu which she beat off a party of drunken Indians (who insisted on entering her cabin by the window, after having been refused admission at the door), with a shovel full of red hot coals, which she wielded like an Amazon, while her younger sister lay screaming under the bed, until the " big Ingin," who led on this riotous crew, fled, yelling, from the scene of conflict, with his shirt on fire and an inflamma- tion of the chest ; for our buxom hostess " upsot," to use her own expression, not only the contents of the shovel, but the greater portion of a tea-kettle full of scalding water into the breast of the unlucky redskin. There was another incident that, we regret to say, is also " unavoidably crowded out for want of room " to do its merits justice, and this was a wolf-fight, in wWch a young married lady, who hadn't learned the etiquette of the Far Western country, and her unfortunate husband, who was stupid enough to discharge a gun, which, as his better half assured him, she had loaded so carefully that very day, figured considerably. The point of the story lies in the fact, that the lady had heard her husband say that he put in just three fingers of powder in charg- ing the piece ; and so, indeed, had she, the ouly discrepancy in 248 KILLING AT BOTH ENDS. . . . mtf. I their calculations being this — that he measured a la hunter — by breadth, while she, as women are accustomed to do, calculated by length — which, in the end, or, to speak more properly, in the chamber, makes all the difference in the world, not only in r,be quantity of powder but in the severity of the recoil ; for, in this instance, our well-meaning dame could honestly boast that l;er husband's gun was an improvement upon any known patent, in- asmuch as, under her supervision, it might literally be said to kill at both ends. So much for our New Year's Eve. We have jotted down the following conversation, which we heard to-day. It was carried on between two " Border Ruf- fians," and struck us as being a particularly rich, and withal noteworthy, specimen of the peculiar phraseology of the Far West. First Borderer. — Jim, what are yeou doing now — busy, bey ? Second Borderer. — Busy, thunder ; I'm just that busy, that I have to keep a jumping round like a toad under a harrer. First Borderer. — How's Bob ? Second Borderer. — Oh, Bob's flat broke, as flat as a nigger baby's head, rolled under a saw-log. First Borderer. — Why, I thought the ole man would ha?e kep him up. Second Borderer. — So he would ; but Bob's such a no-a- count cuss that the ole man jest gin him up, and now he's so poor, that if steamboats war a dime a-piece, Bob couldn't bay a yawl. First Borderer. — How about that fight you had tother day with Parsons ? Second Borderer. — Wael, I allow it wasn't much of a fight, no how ; we didn't reckon nothin' on it, down our way ; it war jest a difficulty about a claim that me and some of Parsons' boys got inter ; so ole man Parsons jumped me up — but I reckon he didn't size my pile. OLE MAN PARSONS's FIGHT. 249 First Borderer. — Did you drop him ? Second Borderer. — Well, I did ; but he's a mean cuss ; for I hed him down far, and war a gougin' him, when he got this byar right thumb of mine inter his dog-gaun ugly mouth, and I'll jest allow ole man Parsons hes got teeth like a bar ; for while I war a gougin' him, he kep a chawin' away, as ef my thumb war hog meat ; an' now I'll be dog-gauned ef I kin strike nary lick with it, without hollerin' like a wild Ingin, with thar pain. First Borderer. — Wael, ole man Parsons is some — but come, Jim, let's licker. Second Borderer. — Well, now yeou air a talkin' ; for hyar's a child that air a heap dryer nor a powder-horn. (Exeunt omnes to the grocery). Apropos to groceries, an artist friend of ours, who is not, by the way, altogether " unknown to fame," tells us the following of his road-side experiences in the Far West. He had gone upon a sketching tour, and, in the course of his perambula- tions, "put up" at a shanty tavern, which rejoiced in a log kitchen, one common sleeping room, and a bar. Now our friend, strauge as it may seem, believed that whisky, in moderation, was a healthy drink, and ought, therefore, to be patronized ; so having passed one night under his landlord's roof, he entered the bar-room, after a late breakfast, and ordered an " eye opener," by way of preparation for a hard day's study in the field. Upon tendering a dime in payment for his drink, that being the small- est coin in his possession, while the current value of the article purchased was just half that sum ; the landlord — a long, ague- shaken, hard-featured man — searched first one pocket and then the other, until breeches, coat, vest, and even an old overcoat, which hung upon a peg in the corner, had been thoroughly ran- sacked ; but the result was still the same — no effects. The landlord seemed bothered ; but his uncertainty soon vanished, 11* GETTING EVEN BY A DOUBLE ENTRY. 250 for, having quietly faced about, and gone to smoking his corn- cob pipe, upon a low rush-bottomed chair besitle the stove, he finally drawled out these words : — " Stranger, the bar owes you half-a-dime. Bob," added he, turning to a white-headed urchin, who mixed the drinks, :m f managed the business of the concern in his father's absence, " Bob, do you hyar ? the bar owes this hyar stranger halt'-a- dime." And then, as if fully satisfied with this ingenious method of arrauging the account, the landlord drew placidly at his pipe, until he may be said to have been enveloped in an atmosphere of his own. Our artist, much amused, made his exit and his sketches, and upon returning at night, quite wearied with a long ramble, he once more stepped up to the bar, and demanded a " whisky-straight f the compound was poured out, mixed, and swallowed, upon being assured of which, the agueish-looking vender turned solemnly to his boy, and gave utterance to this very laconic sentence : — " Bob, the bar an' this hyar stranger hev got squar P 1 Is not this what a mercantile man would call balancing an account by a double entry ? NEW YEAR'S DAY. 251 CHAPTER XXYI. OUR NEW YEAR'S CALL. January 1st, 1856. — New- Year's day, and no calls to be made ; what a positiou for a representative of the Knickerbocker State — was there ever so great a change ? no white kids — no carriage — no nice young ladies with their voluminous skirts and sunny smiles — no " compliments of the season " — no tables set out — no hot whisky-punch — no fun — no head-ache — no nothing — but in lieu of these we caught our first glimpse of New Year's morning through the chinks of a poorly-daubed log-cabin, a sort of detached chamber for two, where the snow lay almost as thick inside as it did out. And now we will beg the reader, especially if she be a female reader, to suppose us dressed, and then come with us to our wash-stand — it's that tin basin, in which we have just broken the ice — you can't miss it — it stands on the bench just outside the main cabin ; and now wait a moment until we polish ourself off with this frozen board of a towel by courtesy, and we will ask you in to the fire — but what's that ? — bang — bang — bang — why, don't you know ? it's the Far Western fashion of welcoming in the New Year. Where's our revolver? pop — pop — pop — there go five loads of powder, and mow, as we have celebrated the day, let's get in to breakfast. We won't invite you to share our repast, but you may kill time profitably by watching the glorious doings of old hard-featured Jack Frost, who has decked every shrub, and tree, and creeping thing, with 252 FALLING WEATHER. his silver filagree work, and fringed pendants, which glitter and sparkle like diamonds on a Northern beauty's brow, as they wave to and fro in the cold clear sunshine of this bracing winter's morning. And now a hiatus of one short hour will find H packed and ready to start. But we must first suffer a detention, for the roads are " mighty slick,' 7 as a Kansas teamster wooM say, and the Wakarusa creek, with its steep sides, will " bother us right smartly " within the next hundred yards ; it will there- fore be hardly worth while to get into our conveyances, until their respective drivers have gotten them safely over, so we will make our start upon foot, which enables us to give the pretty Miss Rodrigue an arm. We begin the descent, and had got as far in our conversation by the way, as " Take care, if you please, Miss, or you will certainly fall " — when suddenly we expe- rienced a sensation (for our buffalo shoes were smooth-soled, and the hill-side yet smoother), and, as a natural consequence, our heels went up, while our head, in obedience to those' unacommo- dating laws of gravitation, went down, which brought us to the bottom of the " bluff," a descent of some twenty feet, in much less time than it takes to write it, where we picked ourself up as rapidly as our confusion would permit, with a sort of intui- tive consciousness, which was reduced to a dead certainty, by an upward glance, that somebody was laughing at us, and that somebody, a very nice young lady, whom we had just parted from in what a Kentuckian would have styled " a most extra- ordinary and radiculous manner." But it's just our luck, for 11 We never had a tree or flower, Nor walked a slippery bit of ground," as the poet has it, without a catastrophe somewhere. Certain it is, that we didn't offer to see the " senorita" up the hill as well as down, though perhaps, as she had certainly seen us down, it would have been nothing more than a fair retaliation, but we DOWN AND LAUGHED AT. 253 confess it, we felt, *as we scrambled up the icy slope, that we would, in our unchristian frame of mind, have given all our old shoe-leather, and something else into the bargain, to have seen the damsel follow the example of her "illustrious predecessor." But we hoped in vain, for we all, alas ! reached the crest of the bank in safety, where we waited for the " buggies," which had been obliged to adopt a more circuitous trail, ere they could mount the hill up which we, the pedestrians, had with so much difficulty won our way. Here we took a fresh start, and bade farewell to our fair companion, whose bright eyes looked as mis- chievous as only a coquettish woman's eyes can look, when she don't want to laugh at you, but can't help it, and hoisted ourself into the buggy, in which the stout Major, more overdressed than ever, had already stowed himself away. And then on — on — on — over the smooth, snow-covered road, through the keen nipping air, with the Ice King's' banners waving gorgeously over our heads, we sped rapidly upon our way, until the huge trunks and leafless branches of the " river bottom " were left behind, and we gained once more the open prairie-land. The sun of January 1st was not more than three hours high, when we trotted into the main street of Franklin, and halted at its log-cabin hotel. Here we " tied up " for a few moments, and in company with Mr. Doak, entered a small frame building, labelled " Grocery," where we hoped to get a warm, even if we didn't procure a " warmer." And as such "Groceries" are common in the West, we will give the reader — en passant — a rough notion of its furnishing : it was a one-room affair, say, ten feet by twelve — or, if anything, smaller — with a counter — a row of rough board shelves garnished with a couple of dirty decanters, a batch of yet more uncleanly tumblers, and a box marked Havanas, which were but too evidently " live-oak penny- a-grabs." The stock-in-trade of the establishment, however, lay in a couple of barrels which stood in one corner, with a 254 A GROCERY GROUP. spigot hi each, marked " Highly -rectified Whisky," with some- thing else about " copper" upon them, which we didn't altogether understand, but afterwards determined, from a description of their contents, to be an abbreviation indicating copperas, or some similar ingredient. We have heard a shorter name for the com- pound, which, though inolegant, is nevertheless expressive ; this title is nothing more nor less than " rot-gut whisky," with an addenda about its " killing forty rods round a corner," which, as it is an every-day remark in Missouri* we may possibly have told you before. But let us get back to our grocery interior. The bar-tender and proprietor was what bar-tenders of his class generally are — slightly inebriated ; with no coat on — which, as his linen was far from unexceptionable, would have been rather an improvement than otherwise — and a strange knack of mixing drinks and making change. The company which graced this delectable apartment were, to do them justice, quite in keeping with the place : a single-eyed chap, with a very red nose, and an astonishing pair of legs, sat astride of one of the liquor bar- rels — he and they were evidently proved friends — with an old weather-beaten hat cocked knowingly over his blind eye, while the other seemed fully employed in getting up a series of winks, any one of which would have been a fortune to Burton in re Toodles. When we entered the room, " Legs " was fiddling away— as if his very existence depended upon the accuracy of his execution — at that never-failing tune, " The Arkansaw Traveller." Next to this worthy, upon a rush-bottomed chair, which might as well have had but two legs iustead of four, for any service required by its present occupant, sat a kin- dred spirit, who braced himself against the stove door with his right foot, while its companion swung backward and forward, or when this motion grew wearisome, varied the monotony by kick- ing time vigorously against the floor. A filthy, liquor-stained table — extemporized for the oceasiou WE SHOW OUR BREEDING. 255 by placing a piece of plank across an empty barrel head — at which three bad Border specimeus were playing what in Mississippi ; river parlance is sometimes called " a friendly game of poker," I completed the filling up of this miniature pandemonium ; and when we add that those who wan't smoking, were for the most part swearing " strange oaths and barbarous to hear," we pre- sume that we have given the reader a sufficiency of outline, which he may fill up or not as his fancy dictates. Yet we were very polite to these fellows, for it's just possible,, and highly pro- bable, withal that had we given ourself airs, " we mout hev got a most all-fired thrashing," but being schooled in Western ways, and knowing too, that there is no country where appearances are so deceptive as in the Far West, we did just what we should advise the reader to do in a similar " crowd " and under like circumstances. We stepped in with a " How are you, gentlemen ?" declined an invitation to drink, out of respect to our interior economy, but compromised the refusal by accepting one of the " live-oak penny-a-grab" cigars, which we endeavored to smoke until Mr Doak was ready to start, when our " Good morning, gentle men," proved us to be " a mighty wdl-raised young man." Once more upon the road, Doak pressed his horse up to the side of our vehicle, and as he galloped within whipping distance, switched our lazy mule rats into something between a trot and a would-be canter, which brought the buggy over the ground at a very respectable rate, until we reached the forks of the Lawrence road, from which that renowned city is plainly to be seen. Here we halted, for it would not have been " healthy," in the then excited state of party feeling, for Major Clarke to have entered the place. So we parted with mutual good wishes, he to con- tinue on to his residence near Lecompton, and we to achieve the real celebration of our New Year's day, by walking into the far- famed city of Lawrence — " the Athens of Kansas," to quote from the Free State people, or "the Gall Bag of the Territory," 256 A FREE-STATE SETTLER'S HOME. if you prefer the Pro-Slavery appellation — where we hoped to tread the classic ground, and gaze upon the impregnable fortifi- cations of the Sebastopol of the West. Our welcome to the exterior of Lawrence at least, was of ibe coldest, for the snow-clad prairie-slopes, the chill December blast, and the hoar-frosted woods of the Wakarusa bottom, ill said mercury at zero, if no worse. Under these depressing cir- cumstances we halted, carpet-bag in hand, at the first " improve- ment," as they call a house in this country. It was a shanty of the " rough and ready " sort, a composite of logs and boards, and about the size of an ordinary cow-pen : but we were anxious to see the inside of a Yankee settler's hut, so making a drink of water an apology, we knocked, was invited in, and entered, and a delightful change it was from the uninviting landscape, which impressed one so chillingly without. Let us sketch in a pleasant interior, rich in warm tints, and lit up by real heart sunshine, just such a cozy scene, in fact, as Dickens would have loved to people with his Perry bingles and Cratchits. A nice little woman with a bright-eyed baby upon her knee (we have a weakness for babies), and a tiny flaxen-haired young lady of some six years old, occupied a rude arm-chair and " home manufactured" stool, beside the old-fashioned New England cooking-stove. On the bed, which half filled the only apartment, that did duty at once, as parlor, kitchen, and bed-chamber, sat a diminutive, but clever-looking man, who smiled pleasantly as we came in, and said, " Sit down," at the same time pointing to a chair, where, as we more than half suspected, he had, when we knocked, been sitting, a good deal closer to his better-half than he was when we entered the " improvement." We say we suspected, for her dark-brown hair, which evidently had been most scrupulously arranged, was now disordered on the side next to him. Now, we don't mean to say that he had been sitting with an arm thrown round that taper waist, or that he had been kissing that almost A NEW- ENGLAND WIFE AND BABY. 257 too rosy cheek ; no, it might have been the baby, but do you know, when we think of the temptation, we are not so sure that it was the baby after all. We asked for a drink, and this little woman, a very M Dot" of a wife, laid her " Dot " of a baby very gently upon the bed, with a look of motherly tenderness as she did so, that reminded us of some truly poetic lines which speak of " A woman's crown of glory, The blessing of a child," and then our New England " Dot " handed us a tin dipper full of clear, cold water — but such a dipper, " clean as hands could make it," as the old saw has it. But it wasn't the dipper alone, for if cleanliness be contagious, it must have been so here, for, though everything bespoke a new country, everything was neat — neat even to a fault ; your eye almost longed for some- thing out of place, just to break up the monotony. There were plenty of books, too, that is to say, plenty for a new settlement, books that were books, none of your gilt-edged, mean-nothing sentimentalities, but hard facts, and standard fiction, with here and there a volume which bore the name of one of those " Bards sublime Wh'ose distant footsteps echo, Through the corridors of time." And better still, the man himself was reading. But we found him (alas) ! full of fight, though we wouldn't have you think that we don't approve of fighting, for who doesn't know that desperate dis- eases require desperate remedies sometimes, but then it's a bad business at the best, and with such a wife and baby, even without counting in the flaxen-haired little girl, a great deal worse. So we are candid enough to confess that we didn't like our diminu- tive Yankee's pugnacity. Yet upon this one subject he seemed 258 LESS TALK AND MORE WORK. perfectly rabid, for he had worked in the trenches — he had handled his Sharpe's rifle — he hated the Border Ruffians — he wouldn't be conservative — he was prepared to " do and die " in cause of Free State-ism and Kansas — in short, our friend was of that ultra type who would treat a political difficulty as m old school allopathist would prescribe for a fever, by letting blood for it. He was a " Deown Easter " of course — asked plenty of questions — giving guarded replies to such queries as were put to him, until he discovered that we were from "York State," and then thawed out like a snow-bank in the sun. And this was our first, and we may as well say, in some respects, pleasantest experience of Lawrence. For we must con- fess that we have not yet fallen in love with this politician, or perhaps we should rather say politics-ridden town. Lawrence labors under one very serious difficulty, she needs less talk and more work. There is no cause, however good or just, which has not, since the beginning of time, been more or less afflicted by cant, and Free State-ism does not appear to be exempt from this universal curse. As in Missouri we heard too much of "those rascally Abolitionists," and l " those infernal nigger-stealing Free State men in Kansas," so in Lawrence we. were equally annoyed by the everlasting reiteration of such remarks as, " those hounds, the Border Ruffians, who would kill children and insult our women, if they were not afraid of our rifles." Now, all this is wrong, radically wrong on both sides. Give us a little less, good people, of what that much-quoted, and very sensible authority, Mr. Weller, calls, " A passin of Resolutions, and a wotin' of Supplies, and all sorts of goings on," and a little more of that honest toil which puts the sweat on the working-man's brow, and the hard dollars in his purse, and we will venture to say, that Lawrence will be none the worse politically, and considerably the better in a pecuniary point of view, for our suggestion. At pre- sent " the war " seems like charity, which " covereth a multitude ot THE CINCINNATI HOUSE. 259 sins," for if you ask a man why he doesn't repair his uncomfort- able house, he tells you he would but for the war; and the same reply will be tendered you, if a cow elope in search of better shelter than her owner's pen affords, or a pig break out of his dilapidated stye; it is ever " the war, the war," in all its moods and tenses. For know all men that the "war" — past, present and prospective — haunts Lawrence like a night- mare, until her worthy citizens are transformed into heroes of battles which might have been, while her orators season their dis- courses with " villainous saltpetre," and even the tailor grown familiar with " war's alarms," shoulders his yard-stick, and tells his customers how fields may yet be won. In sober earnest, we really think that Kansas may take up the cry, "preserve me from my friends," for, even at the risk of pleasing nobody, we feel justified in saying that Southern Filli- busterism and Northern interference, have, in no respect, done Kansas any good. She has, or had, within herself elements which must, sooner or later, have produced results which would have won for her the respect, if not the admiration, of her sister States ; for we thank God that there is, 'even upon the Far Western border, a remnant, small though it be, of honest thinking, and conservative men, whose nobility of character will stand out in bolder relief in the hour of political danger and agitation, as the sky above them grows blacker and more lower- ing. Would that there were more such, for we should then hear less of windy vaporings with their threatenings of disunion and retaliation. But we have too much to say in the way of de- scription, to be able to afford even a conservative digression here ; so let us on to Lawrence. Upon entering the city proper, we took up our quarters at the " Cincinnati House," so called because it is literally a Cin- cinnati house, having been brought out in pieces from that hog- slaughtering city, to be re-united in the Territory : houses, it 260 OUR LAND- LADIES. may be remarked, are one of the few " foreign importations," which unite harmoniously in Kansas. Of this, " mine inn," we shall say nothing, for we bear in mind the proverb, of the least said the soonest mended ; it would hail been a blessed thing, by the way, for those who patronized the Cincinnati's uneasy couches through those January nights, if the latter part of our quotation could have been applied practi- cally, to its bed-room windows. Yet, though we slight the domicil, we should be most impolite, not to say unapprecidtive, if we were to permit ourselves to forget its amiable landladies — for the " House n boasted a brace of pro- prietresses, which doesn't surprise us, for we hardly believe that the genius of one individual alone, could have kept up so extraordi- nary an establishment — but, let us assure the reader that this pair were noteworthy personages in their humble way, as much so, per- haps, as " Melissy," or even " the inconsolable widow of Deacon Bedott," who didn't "intend to git married agin." But we will do their portraits from the life, and abide by the artistic result. And first — the elder (for age must, in this instance, take pre- cedence of even personal attractions), seemed a motherly old creature, whose life was an odd mixture of silver spectacles and yarn stocking-mending, quite in the Mrs. Partington style. But these were but a tithe of this good lady's strong points, for she had large sympathies — "pitied the oppressed" — talked pol- itics — which usually eventuated in a conglomeration of prin- ciples and parties — with some such remark, by way of finale, as "Deary me, what is the world a comin' to next?" She was, moreover, a firm believer in patent medicines, and "htalin' yarbs" — had strongly methodistical proclivities, and to wind up all, wondered "what on airth we found in Lawrence to write about for the newspapers." The younger — if forty odd be young — was, in every respect MISS CHARITY. 261 save one, the very antipodes of the elder ; for, where her coadju- trix was short and fat, she was tall and lean — a la Miss Miggs, whose fervent attachment for " Simmums " adorns the pages of Barnaby Rudge. In size, our junior hostess was somewhere between five feet ten and six feet, in a pair of stockings, eter- nally down at the heel, and if anything, rather more up than down from the estimate first given. To complete the picture, fancy little black eyes, set deeply into the head ; a long nose, with what sailors term a " slight leaning to port a wide mouth, well garnished with masticators, which that droll fellow Hood would have called » Very large teeth for her age ;" add to these a chin, which was poked independently out, as if it had begun life in advance of its sister features, and intended to keep ahead or die gloriously in the attempt, and our faint out- line is complete. But deary me, her good looks were the small- est singularity — she had a tongue. Did you ever hear, good reader, of a tongue hung in the middle, which worked both ways ? Didn't, hey ? Well, we have, and it's our private opin- ion that we came nearer to realizing that idea, in Miss Charity's case, than we ever have before, or shall again ; and, further- more, if that tongue rested from its labors, we are not yet aware of the fact; we were even haunted with a terrible suspicion that she talked in her sleep, in which case, may our good angel de- liver us from being — but we won't say that, either. But it was a tongue, that of Miss Charity's ; a tongue to be proud of ; a tongue which would have been a mine of gold to a divine, a for- tune to a lawyer, a curse to a physician, and killed any politician dead, in six weeks from the unlucky hour in which he started it. She had, moreover, a weakness for key-holes, which, coupled with a most inquiring mind, led her at times into the pursuit of information under difficulties ; but, as we wouldn't do even a 262 LONG SWEETENING. mosquito harm, unless he bit us, we will qualify this by saying, that we thought so ; for, with all these drawbacks, our juvenile landlady was an apt illustration of that sweet poetical simile, which is embodied in the quotation of " Linked sweetness long drawn out." A POLITICAL FREE AND EAST. 263 CHAPTER XXVII. THE BALL. From the Cincinnati House, we started off upon a tour of in- spection, which brought us finally to a narrow, half-plastered, and not over cleanly office, in the second story of a stone build- ing, upon Massachusetts street, the main avenue as yet — unless you would consult the city as it is built upon paper — of that growing metropolis — Lawrence. Here we mounted, by special invitation, up a dilapidated wooden stairway, which ran along the outside of the house, until we reached a door, which let us into the apartment referred to. Upon entering, we almost fell into the error of the gentleman from Little Rock, who, on being elected to the Arkansas Legislature, got into the Senate chamber by mis- take, and then swore that he thought the House of Representa- tives was a doggery ; for the room was yellow with smoke, and dingy with something not quite so easily removed. There was a stove, too — a very dirty one, in the centre of the apartment, about which we found a circle of some half-a-dozen rather rough- looking specimens of Free State humanity, tipped back in their chairs, with feet hoisted upon the hearth, into which an occasional jet of tobacco-juice was squirted. As we opened the door, everybody seemed talking at once, but more particularly a little fellow, in a rabbit-skin cap, who turned out to be an Irishman, with a brogue, and a newspaper editor, in a small way, to boot. The subject of discussion, just then upon the carpet, as near 264 THE FREE STATE EXECUTIVES. as we could get at it, being the very interesting theme of polit- ical loaves and fishes, with the proper distribution thereof. What wonder then, that those present, with such a bone of contention as Kansas scrip (of which more anon), to fight about, were like the army of Bombastes Furioso, all busily engaged in kicking up a row ? Yet this august assemblage — don't be startled at the announcement — for remember, that this was Legis- lation upon the Border, and even Congress itself is not always, under similar circumstances, quite so dignified — was an official meeting, for the transaction of bus-iness of the Executive Com- mittee for the Territory of Kansas. But they are clever fellows, these wonderful chaps of Law- rence — some of them we mean, for we brought letters to Robin- son, ditto to Lane, and ditto to Lowry, and have been well received and politely treated by all. Our being the representa- tive of the New York Herald, may, perhaps, have stood just a little in our way at first, but as we declared ourself ready to make affidavit to its or anybody's else reformation, if required, our Free State friends, at least so we flattered ourself, finally settled down into the belief that we were, for a Newspaper Cor- respondent, a wonderfully honest sort of fellow. Pending the adjustment of sundry Free State Editor's bills for printing resolutions, speeches, and so forth, which were to be liquidated in the very peculiar currency already referred to- one of the "Executives" asked us if we were "going to the ball ?" What ball? Why the ball which was to take place that night at the Free State Hotel, as a sort of house-warmiug for the in-coming year, and at which all u the rank, beauty, and fashion," as the English journalists express it, of Lawrence and its vicinity would most undoubtedly appear. We had not obtained a ticket, but would do so, as we had an earnest desire to see the belles of Kansas. Our friend stepped out and speedily FRONTIER FULL DRESS. 265 returned with a diminutive, sweet-scented, hot-pressed note- paper, gilt-edged billet-doux, printed within in italics, with a libe- ral allowance of capitals. Upon inspecting this very lady-like missive, we found its contents to run thus : — " NEW YEAR'S PARTY." u The company of yourself and lady is respectfully solicited at a Social Party, to be given at the Free State Hotel, in Lawrence, on Tuesday eve- ning, January 1st, 1856." Then follows a list of some half a dozen of managers, with the addenda of, tickets, $1 50 Armed with these credentials, for which our Executive friend will be pleased to accept our thanks, we inquired as to the most fashionable hour at which we might venture to become visible — were told eight o'clock, and accordingly entered the ball-room, an unfinished dining-hall in the Free State Hotel, at the hour indicated. We were attired for the occasion, in a suit of black, which was " built " in New York, and has been con- sidered creditable upon Broadway ; but we might have spared ourself some trouble, for the first gentleman we met sported a short, drab overcoat, a very long red comforter, and corduroy pants, which were fitly finished at the bottom, by a pair of boots, long innocent of blacking, but bearing most unmistak- able signs, to more senses than one, of being thoroughly greased; and this biped was a fair specimen, by the way, of the very free and easy manner in which the male portion of the assemblage were rigged out. We felt out of place, but it was too late to " retrograde," so we summoned up our brass, pulled down our left collar, turned up our sleeves, deranged the set of our pants, stuck our hands into our breeches pockets, donned our hat, and then went into conversation — pending the arrival of the ladies, who were 12 266 A KANSAS BALL-ROOM. holding on for the music — with our next neighbor — who turned out to be something from Indiaua, in a blanket overcoat, and a very hoarse cold — upon that unfailing subject, " the late war." In the mean time, a Dutchman — the professor, as he is styled — who has gained a somewhat expensive immortality by giving the first concert in Kansas, which — hurrah for her musical tastel— didn't pay either himself or the printer who struck off his notices — came in with a four-legged affair that looked like a juvenile piano, not yet grown up, on which he began playing most discordantly. The arrival of the ladies, who made their appearance upon the young piano being reinforced by — judging from its execution — a still younger violin, put a stop to this thrumming, and the ball commenced. As the room filled up, each gentleman was supplied with a diminutive paper ticket, which tickets had been previously numbered by the floor manager, from one to thirty inclusive. The object of this was to give each guest his number, so that — as the room was too small to accommodate more than four seta, for quadrilles, with variations, were the only dances attempted — each man, with his partner, got a "fair shake" to dance in their turn, for you were not allowed to take your place upon the floor until your number had been called. Well, to make a long story short, we danced with sundry of the Kansas belles, and saw neither lace-ruffles nor fancy undersleeves, hoops nor flounces, low- necked dresses nor embroidered handkerchiefs, but everything passed off smoothly, for all that. The dancing-hall, however, merits a more extended description. It was, as we have already stated, an unfinished room, with rough stone walls, destitute of plaster, and a broken window or two. At one side of the room a carpenter's bench was shoved up against the wall, to make way for the trippers upon the " light fantastic toe," while a cookiug-stove graced either end of the apartment, and furnished a heater, which we regret to say, didn't warm the room. As for PLAYING ON THE WASH-BOARD. 267 candlesticks, each window had a slip of board fastened across the sash, with nails driven in at uncertain intervals, so as to support the candles, which threw their nickering light upon this gay and festive scene. At midnight we had supper; that is to say, we ranged ourselves upon the long wooden benches, — which surrounded the room — to the number of some eighty souls or more, when, being " all set," at a given signal the door opened — no, we mistake, it didn't — for there was none to open — but two men entered, bearing between them a piece of plank, on which were ranged plates, containing a triangle of cold pie, some raisins, and a stick of candy each — more or less, as the lawyers say — this was followed up by a second edition of planks, and men who served everybody — nolens volens — with a cup of hot coffee; then came cakes, " fearfully and wonderfully " made, and then back came the .plank-bearers, who removed the fragments of the feast, whereupon the dancers went to work again, and we went home to bed. We cannot, however, close our notice of the ball without recording a conversation, which we had the honor of holding with one of the prettiest, and certainly the liveliest girl in the room. It was short and sweet, and ran thus : We. — (After a pause.) Are you fond of music ? She. — Oh ! yes, indeed I am. We. — (Stroking down our moustache.) Do you play on any instrument ?" She. — Yes sir, I reckon I do. We. — (Interested.) On the piano, or do you prefer the guitar? She. — No sir. But I'm great on the wash-board. I've been practising- all day. We fancied that we had listened to less sensible speeches in more pretentious assemblies. 268 "THE FAT ONE ENTER3. CHAPTER XXYIII. THE HEROINES OF THE WAR. January 2d. — A clear, cold, biting day, or to speak more cor- rectly at this present, a bitter evening, for the short twilight of winter has already given place to its long dreary, night, and even as we write, our senior hostess — the short, fat one — -enters with the despairing announcement of : " My goodness gracious ! eight o'clock, as I am alive, and Miss Charity ain't got the fust one of them dishes washed up yet. Well I never, if you men hain't gooe to talkin' politics agin. I spose you'll be inductiu' of auother party next. Oh ! deary- me, what is the world a comin' to ?" Our motherly old hostess makes her exit, very much, if the truth be told, to our mental relief, for how can one journalize with any degree of personal satisfaction, not to mention truth- fulness, when an old maid, and a yet older matron, aided by some half a dozen boarding-house politicians, who all agree in disa- greeing, are kicking up a wordy row, within ten feet of die table at which you are scribbling, or, to be accurate, nibbling your pen, as you vainly strive to grasp the tail of some eel-like idea, which is ever slipping from you, and won't be caught. And now for our log — let us take a retrospective view, and go back to 11 o'clock a. m., at which hour we did ourself the pleasure of calling upon Mistress W , the lttitr-K( 'j of a certain hard-working Free State politician, and ar A CHAT WITH THE LADIES. 269 elder sister of one of our fair partners of the evening before. TheW mansion stands upon the main street (or as the good people of Lawrence delight to call it, Massachusetts Avenue); its exterior is, at the best, very far from imposing, for though it would be called a house here, it might be suited at the North with a less dignified appellation; as for the interior, it was, if we saw all, divided, to use a Hibernianism, into one room, a bed, and a cooking-stove, round which some two or three white-headed little urchins were playing noisily, while the women folks talked over that very interesting event — our last night's ball. But it was not long ere even this fruitful subject was exhausted, for in a country where the feminines have but one party dress, which does duty all the year round, that theme becomes stale, and Kansas is almost too new for scandal, so it is hardly to be wondered at, that the tide of words soon flowed into their natural channel, which means the Wakarusa War, for in this section of the Territory, at least, it is hard to exchange ideas with any one, without being fairly dragged into the whole state of Kansas, ere you have given your tongue a five minutes' run. And as this led very naturally to the personal experiences of the ladies present, who seemed quite willing to " post us up," and as these experiences were really of a very extraordinary and withal adventurous nature, we feel confident that it would be doing everybody an injustice to suppress them here. But let us preface the narration, or rather Mistress W — 's story, by the assertion that if Mistress Molly Starke was breveted to a Majority, for serving a piece upon the field, Mistress W •, (we wish we knew her own initials), should be made a Captain of Artillery, at the very least, for the very gallant manner in which she and her companion (Mrs. B ) served the State, in a one-horse buggy. And when we tell you this heroine's story, as we jotted it down on our note-book, from her own lips, as she sat sewing by her cooking-stove, with the urchins aforesaid play- 270 THE FREE STATE HEROINE. ing around her feet, we presume you will not only agree with us in the recommendation to a Captaincy, but avow your- self ready to declare that Mistress B and her fair com- panion are trumps ; and a clear-grit Yankee woman quite equal, upon an emergency, to what, in vulgar parlance, is quaintly styled " a whole team, and a dog under the wagon " to boot. But to our tale, and we may very properly call it THE FREE STATE HEROINE'S ENTERPRISE. " The Kansas war was at its height — Lawrence was a Sebas- topol, and the Wakarusa and Lecompton camps teemed with those barbarous hordes, the ' Border Ruffians/ when it was suddenly discovered by the stern Republicans — all black though they be — who guarded the entrenchments of this beleaguered city, that our gallant defenders lacked that sine qua non for legalized bloodshed, powder and ball. Here, then, was a terrible state of affairs. The enemy was at hand, the cloud of war growing darker every day, and the smoke of battle just about to be puffed into our very nostrils ; yet, from whence were we 1 the unterrified 9 to obtain a sufficient supply of ' villainous salt- petre/ — for every road was guarded, every avenue closed, every wagon searched, and the ' Border Ruffians ' had their watchful scouts upon each overlooking hill, so that no man, be he Free State, or Pro-Slavery, might come or go unquestioned. In fact, the Free State leaders were fairly bothered, but where ' the Lords of Creation ' exhaust their ingenuity in vain, a woman's wit will often solve the problem, and it was so in this in- stance, for a certain Mistress B (also of Lawrence) and myself concocted a plan which, with the approval of the Free State generals, we determined to put into execution. Our scheme was simply this : We knew that both powder and lead, together with a considerable quantity of Sharpe's rifle ca.ps and cartridges were deposited with those favorable to our cause, at two sepa- BUSTLIXG TIMES. 2U rate points upon the Santa Fe trail. It does not matter as to their particular whereabouts, but it wUl do nobody any harm to say that they are to be- found within ten miles of the room in which we are now seated. Now, when a woman makes up her ' mind to do anything, be it good or bad, it is already more than half accomplished ; so you may readily suppose that no very great space of time intervened between our determination to undertake the enterprise and our putting its into execution. " So at eight o'clock on a bright winter morning, Mistress B and myself stepped into the one-horse buggy which was to transport us to the localities where these warlike supplies were awaiting an opportunity to reach the Free State camp, and then convey us back again well laden, as we trusted, with the much-desired ammunition. We were both, I can assure you, got up, so far as equipments were concerned, in a very eccen- rict fashion for the trip ; as for myself, I wore two dresses, and a petticoat, which, though it went forth lined with wadding, came back charged with what — if I were inclined to make a pun, might be called excellent gun-cotton. We were, moreover, each provided with an article which, though it makes no great bustle now-a-days, was in this particular instance well fitted to increase the noise in Lawrence in the event of a premature explosion, for they had, ere we re-entered Massachusetts street, been literally stuffed with a commodity that rendered them completely water-proof, insomuch as their contents may fairly be said to have kept them as dry as powder. But a truce to jesting — though I have many a hearty laugh when I recall the recollections of this eventful excursion. " We passed the picket guards of the Lawrence camp, and continued on, without meeting with any note-worthy adventure, for though we saw several parties of Missourians — the fact of our being females, and our travelling from the town, was probably a sufficient guarantee for our harmlessness. It was late in the 272 A KILLING PETTICOAT. morning — for we drove slowly, as we wished to save our mare r s strength for the afternoon — ere we reached the dwelling of Mr, Blank, our first stopping-place, upon the Santa Fe trail. Here we received a warm welcome, coupled with many expres- sions of astonishment at our temerity, and, what was more to the purpose, a keg of prime rifle-powder, which I should say, for I carried it out to the buggy myself, must have contained up- wards of twenty-five pounds ; this we emptied and secreted carefully about our persons, I could hardly tell- you where. In addition to the powder, they gave us a quantity of lead ; this we also stowed away in a secret hiding-place — as for the Sharpe's rifle caps, we put those into our stockings, while the cartridges were quilted into our petticoats, under-dress, and cloth- ing generally. From Mr. Blank's we drove to the residence of another Free State sympathizer, who also lived on the Santa Fe trail, where we obtained not only powder and ball, but an additional supply of Sharpe's rifle cartridges, with quite a number of caps, as there were more of these latter muni- tions than we could conveniently dispose of — being already, as an artilleryman might say, loaded quite up to the muzzle — we were, though very unwillingly, compelled to entrust them to a boy, and a sturdy Free State youngster too, who, although he was not yet nine years old, was going to try and enter Lawrence — which of course involved passing the enemy's scouting parties — with an ox-team that he was driving. But we trusted, as his cart was empty, and the little fellow but a mere child, that his youth and apparent innocence would disarm the suspicions of the Pro-Slavery people, and thus permit him to pass unsearched with his dangerous cargo in safety to our lines. In this expectation, however, or, to speak more correctly, in a por- tion of it, we were doomed to be disappointed, as the sequel of my story will show; but I am anticipating. " Upon completing our lading, by which time we were so con- LOADED TO GO OFF. 273 siderably increased in bulk, that we found the buggy rather a small pattern for two, I grasped the reins and whipped up old Sally, until she fairly broke into a run as we took the homeward road ; for it was not far from three o'clock, p. m., by the time that all our preparations for departure were completed, and we had still some ten miles to go. We continued to rattle on, although at a rather more moderate gait, for old Sally's vigorous start soon so- bered down into a long, steady trot, which carried us rapidly over the smooth prairie road ; and were already within a few miles of home, when, just as I was beginning to bless my lucky stars, for what promised to be a successful termination to our adventure, an exclamation from my companion caused me to look up, and there, sure enough, were a party of ' Border-Ruf- fians 9 on horseback, whose dark figures stood out in bold relief against the wintry sky, as they dotted the summit of a distant prairie rise, where they seemed to have reined in their cattle, to observe us ; while, worst of all, two of their number — and even at that distance, they looked unprepossessing enough — were already galloping towards us at top speed, as if to cut us off. I looked at my companion, as if I meant to say, " What on earth are we to do now ?" and she returned my glance, in a manner that told me, as plainly as words could have spoken it, ''' I'm sure I do not know." For myself, I was quite at my wit's end ; I formed a dozen plans in a minute, and dismissed them with equal promptitude the next. There seemed but one course left for us to pursue, and that was to put our mare to her speed, and thereby — do what many a lady has done before — make a run- away match of it ; but, as we were already both married, there wouldn't have been much poetry in that, and even if it had been otherwise, a moment's reflection convinced me that such an es- capade, under existing circumstances, would be sheer madness, as, even if old Sally could have done anything in the racing way, the heat must have been a short one, for, like that honest citizen, 12* 274 OLD SALLY AND HER DRIVER. John Gilpin, in the song, we 'carried weight,' which would have told sadly against us ; for how could old Sally drag the buggy, its two inmates, and our hundred pounds of powder and ball, in a trial of speed with some twenty odd well-mounted frontiersmen, who would be able to take advantage of every cut- off in a road whose turnings we must of necessity follow. So as there was nothing for it, but to put our trust in the winding up of the chapter of accidents, with, perhaps, a little feminine diplomacy to help it out, I drew in the reins, slackened old Sally's trot to a walk, and was waiting — if the truth must be told — with my heart in my mouth, while I endeavored to look as innocent as I conveniently could, to see the upshot of this most unwelcome visitation. Judge, then, how great was my re- lief, when I beheld the two horsemen, who had by this time galloped up to within twenty cr thirty yards of our vehicle, tighten their bridles, and come to a sudden halt ; at the same time, lifting their hats, as they assured me, with a very killing low, that they really begged our pardon for disturbing us : which, had their people only known that none but ladies were in the buggy, would never have occurred. " To this very gratifying piece of intelligence, they added some- thing about having thought, when they first caught sight of us, that there was a gentleman too, in which case, the very strict orders they had received, in relation to stopping and arresting every suspicious person, would have made it necessary for them to question him. To all this, we, of course, said just as much, in the way of bows, wreathed smiles, and such like courtesies, as possible, without trusting ourselves to words. I suppose we must have looked frightened, for the Border-Ruf- fians — and these certainly were very nice Ruffians — made their fare- well salutations, wheeled their horses, and were off to rejoin their party, leaving my companion and myself, very much to our de- light, to pursue our way unmolested. Upon looking back, a SWELLED OUT AWFUL. 275 short time afterwards, we saw them in the distance, all busily engaged in overhauling the unlucky urchin who had charge of the ox-team and — what was to us a matter of very considerable anxiety, our additional package of rifle caps. But the Free State juvenile's detention was a short one, for we had the satis- faction to see the Missourians file off, while he of the ox-cart cracked his whip, as he urged the lazy cattle upon their road to town. He entered Lawrence that evening, and delivered his package of caps, a little rumpled to be sure, but all right, never- theless. We have never yet, however, been able to discover in what manner he concealed them, while undergoing this inspection upon the road, for, in answer to all cur questions, the younster only laughed, blushed a little, and when still more closely pressed, hung down his head and said nothing." We afterwards discovered that the young gentleman alluded to, had deposited the package — upon first perceiving the ap- proach of the Missourians — inside the seat of his voluminous pantaloons, which may, perhaps, very naturally, account for his diffidence when so closely questioned by the ladies. A Western Free State man, who saw the heroines making their triumphant entry into Lawrence, upon their return from this ad- venturous trip, speaks thus of the personal appearance of these perambulating Free State arsenals : — " Stranger, when I saw them wimin a comin' inter this hyar town, I jest allowed that bustles hed come inter fashion agin, for they wor swelled out awful P\ 2?6 WE DEFINE OTJR POSITION. CHAPTER XXIX THE FREE STATE SIDE OF THE QUESTION. We had an interview this afternoon with General Charles Robinson, who is by far the most influential leader of the Free State movement in Kansas ; there were moreover two other per- sons present, who are also deep in the counsels of that party. Our object in seeking this interview was to notify these gentle- men formally of the purpose with which we had visited Kansas, of the duties intrusted to us, and of the manner in which we purposed (as the fairest that could be adopted), to pursue our investigations in re Kansas and the war. We, therefore, said plainly that we were duly accredited by the " New York Herald," as their Kansas correspondent ; in proof of which we exhibited our credentials from the editor of that paper. We then informed the General that we had already taken a peep at the Pro-Slavery version of the war, through the medium of sun- dry statements, official documents, affidavits, and such like, which we had obtained from his Excellency, Governor Shannon, and others of that persuasion, whom we regarded as reliable men ; in speaking of which, we very frankly admitted that the Pro-Slavery people had not only taken some little pains to post us up, but so fur as we were competent to judge, had made out a very pretty case f or their side into the bargain. We finally intimated to tho General and his compatriots, that as we desired TRUTH AXD BREVITY. 277 to M do justice to all men," we would spend eight days, and if necessary even more time, in Lawrence, and devote ourself, dur- ing that period, to getting up the Free State History of the Wakarusa War in as readable a form as our poor abilities would permit, and at the conclusion of our labors, give their story to the world, or if need be, in the summing up, argue their cause before the jury of Public Opinion ; not as a lawyer who has taken a fee, but as an upright judge, who permits no con- sideration of personal interest to " sully the purity of his ermine." But, gentlemen, added we, we cannot do this thing unaided ; we must ask, not only your co-operation but your suggestions ; for while we are willing to take down and write out your testi- mony, we do not feel that it is our business to obtain your wit- nesses ; so we notify you now, that if you have any evidence you may desire printed, we shall expect you to send those whose testimony you wish recorded, to us ; and furthermore, if we might be permitted to make the suggestion, let us have nothing but facts, which if denied can be sustained by proof. We want neither suppositions, rumor, personalities, nor party abuse, but simply that which is said to lie in the bottom of a well (and we are free to confess, by the way, that it must be a mighty deep one in Kansas), the truth. And now, as a last word in your ear, gentlemen, let us intimate that " two good, clean witnesses," to any one point in question, are quite as satisfactory as fifty ; the more so, as in this age of fast people, where men live, travel, eat and read by steam, brevity is most unquestionably the very soul of wit. Such was our " talk/' or rather the drift of it, to the Free State magnates, who, to do them justice, seemed on their part not only good-natured but very willing, so far as promises went, to aid us in our news-hunting ; and we can only say, that if they do so, we shall honestly endeavor to carry out our pledge, to give the Free State evidences, so far as they may see fit to fur- 218 THE MAIN POINTS. nish us with it, fairly to the world. We shall, therefore, intro- duce such papers as we may from time to time obtain, by insert- ing them, as received, into the pages of what is now our jour- nal of events in Lawrence. In presenting the Free State side of the Kansas War qu< 5- tion, we marked out for ourself more particularly the following points : 1st. A general outline of the events which led to and attended the so-called " Wakarusa War." This we proposed to cover, by a statement from General Robinson himself, whose truthfulness, if we judge him by the testimony of his political opponents, is to be most implicitly relied upon. 2d. To discover whether the arrest of Jacob Branson was properly made by Sheriff Jones, and to institute inquiries into the killing of Dow by the man Coleman, with the Free State version of the difficulties which led to that most unfortunate result. To accomplish this, we intended getting the statements of Branson himself, with that of one or more of his neigh- bors. [Note. — In this expectation we were finally disappointed, through the neglect of the Free State people to procure the presence in Lawrence of these persons ; though they had inti- mated that they should come in.] 3d. We desired to get at the real facts connected with the calling together, and proceedings of certain public meetings, alleged to have been holden in Lawrence, upon the day follow- ing the rescue of Branson, and which are said to have endorsed his recapture. [Note. — For these matters see portions of General Robinson's narrative, as also Miller's and Bercaw's statements.] 4th. To verify or prove false the Pro-Slavery version of the circumstances attending the rescue of Jacob Branson from the Sheriff of Douglas County and his posse. SEVEN IN A BED. 279 [Note. — For such Free State information as we were enabled to gather upon this subject, we must refer the reader to Ber- caw's statement, and also to passages in the narrative of General Robinson.] 5th. To inquire particularly into the circumstances attending the killing of the Free State man, Thomas W. Barber, and if possible procure the evidence of those who were with him when the homicide took place. [Note. — See statements of Robert F. Barber, the brother, and Thomas M. Peirson, the brother-in-law, of the deceased, with extract from Dr. Ainsworth attached.] From this time forth our news-gathering work commenced in earnest, and for the difficulties under which it was prosecuted, we would refer your curiosity to the facts that we were obliged to pursue our labors in that " one common room" of the ill-regu- lated hotel, already alluded to ; where, with a hot stove at our back, and a Bedlam of disturbance in our ears, we scribbled up our daily gleanings, and from which, when the hour of ten p. m. came round, we were forced to retire — willing or unwill- ing — to our airy (half the windows were broken), sleeping-room above, where we slept if we could, in company with just six peo- ple ; it seems proper, by the way, to inform the reader that the seven did not, however, all occupy the same bed. January 3d, Evening. — Scene — that general sitting-room — the politicians, seven in number, all assembled, two of them being provided with strong pipes, which in this very confined apart- ment, is almost as satisfactory as taking a smoke yourself, and so far as the perfume in your hair and clothing goes — quite ; the stove — a big one — is red hot, add to which that both of our hostesses are present, and both talking, the junior on religion, and the senior upon things in general, and then sympathize with us as we sit down to write quietly. Let us see ; what is there upon our docket to-day ? Ah ! 280 A. ROUGH AND TUMBLE SET. here is Mr. Albert T. Bercaw's statement in regard to the rescue of our old acquaintance upon paper, Mr. Jacob Branson — a very worthy gentleman, we doubt not. And as Mr. Albert T. Ber- caw was what the dead languages call a particeps criminis, or what in no less legal English might be termed an accessory after the fact (it was not his fault that it was not before), in this recapture business, we presume that Mr. Bercaw ought to be supposed to know a great deal about the affair ; so we will, after this very solemn preamble, introduce that gentlemen, or what in this instance is quite as much to the point — his state- ment — here. It will be perceived, too, that Mr. Bercaw's nar- rative treats of a certain meeting at Hickory Point, and, judging from the amount of difficulty, murder, house-burning3, and such like little eccentricities, which have occurred in this thinly-settled locality, we are iucliuedto believe that the Hickory Pointers must be a very " rough and tumble" — not to mention pugnacious — set of gentlemen. But let us get back to Mr. Bercaw. Note. — The following, in common with all the statements of individuals, which we have thought proper to procure, as ne- cessary to a full understanding of the matters in question, was taken down by our own hand from the lips of the person named. STATEMENT OF ALBERT T. BERCAW, OF LAKE COUNTY, OHIO, A FREE STATE MAN, IN RELATION TO A MEETING OF THE FREE STATE SETTLERS AT HICKORY POINT, K. T., AND EVENTS GROWING OUT OF SAID MEETING. I was present at a meeting, which was held at Hickory Point, on or about the 26th of November, 1855. It was convened to investigate the circumstances attending the killing of C. W. Dow. This meeting convened at noon, upon the spot where Dow was killed, and continued in session until four, p. m. Its chairman was a Free State man, named Powell. After considerable discussion, it was decided to ap- point a committee of seven, whose duty it should be to select twenty-fi^B men — whose names were to be kept secret — the persons so selected were to act as a vigilance committee. I was a member of the committee of seven. BERCAw'S FREE STATE STATEMENT. 281 The duties of the vigilance committee were thus expressed in one of the resolutions passed at that time, namely — " To ferret out and bring the murderers and their accomplices to condign punishment." When this meeting had adjourned, a few of its members, but not over fifteen in all, stepped out, and wished to call a party to burn Coleman's house. (It is proper to remark that Coleman's house was only a few rods distant from the place where the gathering was held.) This was opposed. Some one in the crowd then called out, , in the meanwhile, neglect to set forth our condition, and seek aid from every official source from whence it could be hoped for. We sent people into the Territory to represent the condi- tion of the people of Lawrence. We applied to the commanders THE FREE SOILERS SEEK AID. 297 of the United States military posts in Kansas, for the means with which to repel these Missourian marauders, who were even then threatening our town with destruction. We also dispatched a communication to Governor Shannon, to inquire if these so- called militia were menacing us by his order, and if so, calling upon him either to restrain or remove them from our vicinity, or we should be compelled to seek aid from higher authority — referring to the Chief Executive of the nation, General Pierce, to whom we sent a telegraphic dispatch of similar import. A memorial was moreover drawn up and signed, and a messenger sent to lay it before Congress, and request an investigation by that body of our acts, and the causes which prompted them. In the meantime, the Pro-Slavery forces continued to augment, and committed depredations upon travellers and the country gene- rally, by robbing wagons, taking prisoners, interfering with peace- able travellers upon the public highway, and even stopping the United States mail. And in addition to these unprovoked out- rages, they showed an evident disposition to excite our people to acts of hostility, in firing nightly upon our picket guards, by which, however, as it fortuuately happened, no one was hurt. In the meanwhile the Governor's proclamation made its appear- ance for the first time in Lawrence, how, or in what manner, I am unable to say. \ No copies were ever sent to us in an official way, nor had any communication been held with us up to this time, as a community, either by Governor Shannon, Sheriff Jones, or any other Territorial officer, in his official capacity. Nor was any attempt made to arrest the rescuers of Branson, or any other person in Lawrence. While our people were in this state of ignorance as regarded the objects and intentions of the Pro- Slavery army, one of our citizens, a man named Thomas W. Barber, while on his way to his home, some five miles distant from this place, was mortally wounded by two of the sheriff's posse. This increased the excitement among our volunteers to such an 13* 298 THE GOVERNOR SMILES UPON LAWRENCE. extent, that it required the utmost exertions on the part of their officers to restrain them from attacking the offending parties It was about this time that Governor Shannon first communi- cated with us, by a letter dated from the Executive office at Shawnee Mission." [Note.— -We have endeavored to obtain a copy of this epi itli but were unable to do so.] " He added a verbal message to the effect that he would talk with us in person soon. This had an influence in allaying the excitement, for our people were determined to forbear, so long as there was any reasonable hope of coming to an amicable under- standing with the hostile forces. Our next advices from Governor Shannon came through a verbal message from the Wakarusa camp, whither his Excellency had gone to take the command of his army It simply informed us of the time when he purposed visiting Law- rence. We accordingly sent out an escort who met him at F rank- lin, and accompanied him into our town ; several of his Pro- Slavery friends came with him. Upon his arrival here, the Gover- nor was introduced to some of our citizens, and then had a private interview with General Lane, and myself, as representatives of the citizens of Lawrence ; in the course of which he admitted that there had been a misunderstanding, and appeared anxious to get out of the difficulty. He acknowledged, moreover, that he saw nothing out of the way, thus far, in the course pursued by the citizens of Lawrence in arming themselves for their defence. In fact, so perfectly satisfied was Governor Shannon of the jus- tice of our position, that there was at this time no obstacle in the way of an immediate cessation of hostilities, save this : that he feared he would be unable to control his men, and therefore desired to await the arrival of the United States troops, then momentarily expected from Fort Leavenworth. His Excellency furthermore declared, that if he were to inform his command, that rS« (the Governor) had concluded peace with the citizens of MISSOURI IS SATISFIED WITHOUT FIGHTING. 299 Lawrence, without demanding an unconditional surrender of their arms, they would at once raise the ' Black Flag/ and march upon the town. " After the termination,of this interview, Governor Shannon and his friends remained with us as our guests until late in the afternoon, when they departed, the Governor promising to return the following day at 8 o'clock a. m. He accordingly reentered Lawrence on the ensuing day, at a somewhat later hour than he had designated. A statement mutually agreeable to both parties was then drawn up and signed by Governor Shannon, as the chief Executive of Kansas Territory, on the one side, and Brigadier General J. H. Lane and myself, as the Com- manders-in-chief of the patriots of Kansas, on the other. This consumed the day until 4 o'clock p. m. General Lane and myself, at the request of Governor Shannon, then accompanied him to Franklin, to meet a committee of thirteen captains of the Pro-Slavery army. This was done, to satisfy the Governor's posse, who, as before intimated, were disposed to demand an un- conditional surrender of our arms, as a sine qua non in the terms of our treaty. Upon uniting with this committee, the Governor made a lengthy speech, without apparently satisfying the Mis- souri captains that he had done his duty in coming to an nder- standing with the citizens of Lawrence, which should leave them in possession of their arms, or in a position for defence. After a prolonged and somewhat excited debate, the stipulations, as set forth in our paper of agreement, were recited, and a majority of the captains decided that they had, under the circum- stances, no right to demand our weapons, and would, therefore, retire peaceably with their men. This was on Saturday night, (Dec. 8th.) General Lane and myself then invited the captains to visit Lawrence, see the town, and-become acquainted with our people : to which we added the assurance that if they knew us better they would esteem us more. 300 SHANNON MEETS THE LADIES. " On the ensuing day, Governor Shannon visited us, dined with a party of our citizens, and was introduced to several of our ladies. This was at the Free State Hotel, in an upper chamber some 12 by 18 feet in size, which was then occupied by a committee of twelve ladies of Lawrence, who had met there to arrange a social gathering, to take place on the follow- ing day (Monday, Dec. 10). This festivity was gotten up as a sort of general peace-demonstration, to be attended without distinction of party. While the Governor was thus pleasantly engaged in conversation with the ladies, it was reported to me that the disbanded Pro-Slavery forces were reorganizing for an attack upon the town. This came from the officer of the guard. I immediately sought the Governor and informed him of this rumor, and also of the fact that we were acting without autho- rity, and if a collision should ensue and any one be killed, we would be liable to be tried for murder. I therefore suggested to him the propriety of giving us a written authority to pro- tect ourselves and the town. To this he readily assented, by saying that if I would draw up such a paper he would sign it, which was accordingly done." And now, General, said we, there is yet another matter, and we trust that your modesty will not refuse us a request which we are about to make ; you are a public character, and as such, may in some measure be regarded as public property; the world will soon ask, if it is not already doing so, " Who is General Robinson V 1 enable us, then, if you please, to answer this ques- tion, by informing all whom it may concern n who General Robinson is; or, in other words, give us the necessary data to write out an outline, if nothing more, of your previous self, and we will try and manage your present without assistance. Now, it is only right,— for we like diffidence in a great man, though brass is, as a general thing, much more highly appreciated, — to state that this Free State soldier and politi- GENERAL ROBINSON' CONSENTS. 301 cian, yielded with considerable reluctance to our request, and then only when it was repeated urgently. But as we did obtain the desired data from this distinguished individual we will introduce by way of a finale to the present chapter a BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MAJOR GENERAL CHARLES ROBINSON. Charles Robinson was born in Worcester County, Mass., on the 21st of July, 1818; was educated at Amherst College, but did not, we believe, graduate at that institution ; studied medi- cine at the Medical College in Pittsfield, Mass., where he received his diploma as an M. D., in 1843; practised his profes- sion at Belchertown and Fitchburg, in the same State, until his removal to California in 1849, by way of the Rocky Mouutaius. Upon arriving in the El Dorado of the West, Dr. Robinson set- tled at Sacramento, where he played a prominent part in the "squatter riots" of 1850, in which, as the reader may perhaps remember, the Mayor of Sacramento, and some eight or ten others, lost their lives. Upon this occasion, Dr. Robinson fought upon the side of " squatter sovereignty," and was seri- ously wounded — it was asserted, mortally, at the time. For his alleged conduct upon this occasion, and while still suffering from a desperate hurt, Dr. Robinson was indicted for murder, assault with intent to kill, and for conspiracy; tried before the District Court of Sacramento — and acquitted. While still in confinement, on board the prison-ship, he was nominated and elected to the Legislature of California, from Sacramento dis- trict. This was in 1851. In July of the same year, he sailed from California in the steamship Union, which was wrecked on her passage to the Isthmus ; in the difficulties which followed this disaster, Robinson is said to have borne an active and con- servative part. After many delays, he finally managed to reach New York city, in September of 1851 ; was at Havana at the 302 ROBINSON IS LIONIZED. time of the Lopez execution, and a witness to that cold-blooded murder. Upon his return to the East, Dr. R. recommenced the practice of medicine, in Fitchburg, where he remained until Juu3 of 1854, when he emigrated with his family to Kansas. Hero, he settled himself at Lawrence, where he still resides upon his " claim," some half a mile distant from the maiu body of the town. Unlike his compatriot, General Lane, Dr. Robinson— or, as we should now begin to call him, General Robinson — does not call himself a man of property ; he says he is simply " a poor man whose business prospects have been sadly damaged by the war." In Kansas politics, Gen. Robinson was a member of the State Constitutional Convention — fs chairman of the Free State Execu- tive Committee, and in addition to this, holds the military rank of Major-General and Commander-in-Chief, of the Kansas Volunteers ■ — as the Free State army of Kansas style themselves. He may be regarded as the real head — the thinking one, we mean — and mainspring of the Free State party; or, to speak more correctly, of all that party who are worth anything. We believe him to be a keen, shrewd, far-seeing man, who would permit nothing to stand in the way of the end which he desired to gain. He is, moreover, cool and determined, and appears to be endowed with immense firmness; we should call him a conservative man, now ; but conservative rather from policy than from principle. He seems to have strong common sense, and a good ordinary brain, but no brilliancy of talent. In fact, to sum Gen. Robinson up in a single sentence, we consider him the most dangerous enemy which the Pro-Slavery party have to encounter in Kansas. In person he is tall, well made, and more than ordinarily handsome; gentlemanly, but by no means winning in his man- ners, with one of those cold, keen blue eyes that seem to look you through. A BRILLIANT INCIDENT OF THE WAR. 303 CHAPTER XXXI. THE HEROES OF THE WAR. The following anecdote, which we find noted down upon our journal for to-day, may well be styled the most brilliant incident of that renowned struggle, "the Wakarusa War," at least upon the Free-State side of the question. We don't vouch for its truthfulness, but as it comes from "high authority," as a bona, fide event of the campaign, we feel bound to chronicle it here, the more so as it .is really a very readable story : It would seem that a certain Major Blank — we have a fond- ness for Blanks, for who ever heard of a Mister Blank, or even a Major Blank bringing an action for libel — we really don't know that we give our soldier rank enough, for in good truth, he ought to be a General of Brigade, if a most impudent, but withal cunningly-devised stratagem, can brevet a Kansas volun- teer. But to get on with our narrative, the stronghold of Free State-ism was besieged, and the excitement upon both sides, as the newspapers say, tremendous. Old muskets were in demand, rifles at a premium, and six-shooters worth their weight in gold, but though these were to be had, there was yet a desideratum in the way of fighting-tools, which had of late become a matter of serious perplexity to the military chiefs in Lawrence — they lacked artillery. Nor did their want seem likely to be supplied, when — as luck would have it, a messenger trotted into town with the gratifying intelligence, that some sympathizing New Yorker had 304 MAJOR BLANK OF THE FREE STATE VOLUNTEERS. sent a six or twelve-pounder (we have forgotten which), with ammunition to match, to assist their troops in killing off the " Border Ruffians," and moreover, that this " material aid" was now lying all snugly boxed and safely stowed away, in the ware- house of a Kansas City commission merchant. But Kansas City was one of " the enemy's " strongholds — Pro-Slavery op bo the hub — and how to get the piece into Lawrence, over guarded roads, and in troublous times, without exciting a suspicion, which would have undoubtedly changed the destination of this " peace- maker," was a problem which might well have puzzled the inge- nuity of that very acute practitioner, a "Philadelphia lawyer. 8 But, as our Free State warriors had a sprinkling, of the real wooden-nutmeg, calculating, Deown East Yankee breed among their counsellers, it was not very long, before they laid their sagacious heads together and hammered out a plan for its deliv- erance. As the reader may readily suppose, there were but few to whom the particulars of this notable scheme were communicated, at least at the time, so it excited but little curiosity, when Major Blank, of the Quarter-Master's department, accompanied by two or three travelling friends, rolled out of Massachusetts street one winter morning, in a stout Pennsylvania wagon, drawn by a couple of active mules, and took the road for Kansas City, which, as everybody knows, is located on the Missouri river, near the frontier line of the territory. Upon reaching their place of destination, our Major — who had, with very unusual modesty, dropped his title for the time being, thereby reducing his appellation to plain Mister Blank, who wag presumed to be a citizen of Lawrence, journeying to Kansas City on business of his own — lost no tim^ in waiting upon the commission merchant, and accordingly repaired to his store- house, where he sauntered in with a very nonchalant air, at the same time remarking f the Barbers, and to their left, my brothers in law were side by side, Thomas W. Barber being on the right. I did not see the main body of our opponents until after we had ridden lalf a mile on the cross road ; they were then advancing at a trot. Upon our refusing to go with them, the man on the grey immediately vheeled -his horse towards us, rather facing Thomas W. Barber, drew his )istol, and, taking a deliberate aim, as I judged, from the way in which he leld his weapon, fired at Thomas. I think the pistol was a navy revolver. '. saw Thomas settle down in his saddle as the pistol was discharged. I nought he was hit. The man on the sorrel horse fired immediately, the •epoi ts of the two pistols were almost simultaneous. We had not fired at that ime. As they drew their weapons, Kobert F. Barber drew his pistol and ired three times without success. I was trying, but without success, to Iraw my pistol. I did not attempt to draw it until I saw our opponents Jrawing theirs, when I finally got it out, our opponents had wheeled and ffere galloping off towards their party. Thomas then said "Let us be off." We started accordingly at the top of our horses' speed, the Barbers rid- ng almost in front of me, and I following in their rear. We rode on thus for some two hundred yards or more, when Thomas W. Barber fell from his horse. I had noticed before he fell that his brother was supporting him in his saddle, in which he seemed unable to sit, as he had dropped his rein. Robert F. Barber stopped the horses and dismounted, as his brother fell; he went and looked at him. I did not dismount. Barber said "He is dead." We consulted as to what we should do. I said, Perhaps we can take him before us on the horse. I had barely uttered the words, when I saw the party advancing upon us again, that is to say, that portion of them who had got over the hill. We supposed it to be the same party which we had just seen; they were some two hundred yards distant. We then mounted our horses, and, supposing that we should be murdered if over- taken, left Barber's body and started off on a gallop towards home. I supposed that I had replaced my pistol in my pantaloons pocket, but afterwards discovered that I had lost it. I have not seen it since. Robert F. Barber's horse was mortally wounded in the affray, and died that night. 328 THE DESOLATED HOME. ♦ We have now put the reader, very minutely, in possession of the circumstances attending this tragical affair, as they are stated by Barber and Peirson, whose account is, of course, adopted by the Free State party, and we have taken great pains in procuring this testimony — for the killing of Barber is in every one's mouth — has been garbled by the local press on both sides, and, we regret to add, made a source of political cap- ital against the Pro-Slavery faction. It cannot, however, be denied, that there is, in this matter, no mean, between the ex- tremes of murder and justifiable homicide. It was either an assassi- nation, or a legalized or military taking away of life, growing out of the unfortunate man's refusal to obey the stern require ments of martial law, in which latter case, the agents of that law must be held blameless. With this question, and its ?aat field of evidence, we shall have nothing to do ; we are not colled upon to decide. It must finally be settled by a judicial inquiry, which, if we mistake not, will be obliged to carry its investiga- tion far back of the mere actors in this lamentable affair. Who brought on this war ? who raised these opposing armies ? who s furnished men and arms ? who authorized them to act, and from whence did they derive their authority ? These are all questions which will be asked, and must be met by the responsible parties. Public sentiment will demand it, and then, let those who are in- nocent clear their skirts. But come — let us change the scene ; forget, for a time, the mere party interest in this matter, and gaze with us upon that darker picture, which, alas ! for poor Humanity, so seldom struggles out into the light ; bear with us then, for a moment, while we tell you of our visit to the widow's desolated home. It stand?, upon the bleak prairie ; a shelter — for it merits no better tit'e — of two rooms. We entered it in company with the brother of the deceased, just as the darkness of a stormy winter evening was gathering over the snow-clad slopes of the A SINCERE MOURNER. 329 long, treeless prairie rolls. The room into which we were shown seemed comfortlessly furnished, not from any lack of means, but from the difficulty of procuring such matters in a newly-settled country ; two or three females and children were crowding up to the stove, for the night was bitter cold, and even a large wood fire scarce heated an apartment so slightly walled. Between a heavy pine table, on which a flaring tallow candle stood flickering and sweltering in its socket, and the half-curtaiued window, against which the sleet and biting winter wind beat drearily, sat a woman of some forty years of age, plainly clad in a dress of coarse dark stuff ; she was leaning forward as we entered, and seemed unmindful of all about her. It needed no introduction to tell us that this was the widow of Thomas W. Barber, the sole victim of the otherwise bloodless " Kansas War." No, the thin hand which supported the aching head, and half shielded the tear-dimmed eyes, as well as the silent drops that came trickling slowly down those wasted cheeks, had already told the story. What could we say in the way of con- solation ? What was the cause of " Kansas and liberty " to her? Could the success of a party, or the advancement of a principle, dry those burning tears ? Could they soothe the sorrows of what she herself has called " a poor heart-broken creature ?" Oh, ye demagogues ! ye peace-breakers ! ye incen- diary orators, of both North and South, whose aim it is to urge on a strife, that you yourselves, are not slow to avoid ! could you but have stood beside us, in her once happy home, and have listened to the broken sentences, uttered with all that unstudied pathos, which an agonized and grief-torn spirit alone can give, we hope, for the sake of our common humanity, that the lesson would have sunk deep into your hearts. Hear what she says : — " They have left me a poor forsaken creature, to mourn all my days. Oh, my husband ! they have taken from me all that 330 THE ONLY VICTIM OF THE WAR. I held dear — oiie that I loved better than I loved my own life." These are her very words. We have added nothing to them, nor have we taken aught from them. There are circumstances connected with the life and character of the man Barber, which make his death more particularly to be deplored. He adds another to the long list of victims who have been sacrificed to the demon of political excite- ment. Barber is spoken of as a quiet, inoffensive, and amia- ble man ; domestic and unexceptionable in his habits, and deeply attached to his wife, to whom he had been married between nine and ten years. He was, moreover, the leading man among the agriculturists in his neighborhood ; a lover of fine stock ; and a careful, pains-taking farmer ; such at least is the reputation which he bore in Ohio, the State from whence he emigrated. He was unarmed when he received his death-wound, and on his way to his home. His wife, to whom he had written to inform her of his coming, was expecting him. She is said to have loved her husband with more than ordinary devotion. Her sister-iu- law tells us that they used to rally her, upon her almost girlish affection and solicitude for Thomas. It was her habit, when she saw him coming back from his work, to leave the house, and go forth to meet him on his way. If he failed to return at the time indicated, she grew anxious ; and if his stay was prolonged, oftentimes passed the night in tears ; when ill— the same in- formant tells us — she would hang over his bed, with all the anx- iety of a mother for her child. She would seem, to^ to nave had a presentiment of some impending evil, for after exhausting every argument to prevent her husband from going to join the Free State forces in Lawrence, she said, "Oh, Thomas, if you should be shot, I should be all alone indeed ; remember I have no child — nothing in the wide world to fill your place." And this was their last parting. The intelligence of his death was kept A HEART-RENDING SCENE. Sol from her — in mercy — through the kindness of her friends, but only to be announced, without the slightest preparation, by a young man, who had been sent out from Lawrence, with a car- riage, to bring her in to the Free State Hotel, where her hus- band's body had been laid. Upon arriving at the house where Mrs. Barber was, he rode up, most unthinkingly, and shouted, :( Thomas Barber is killed." His widow beard the dreadful tidings, rushed to the door, cried, " Oh, God ! what do I hear ?" and then filled the room with her shrieks. We have heard, too, i description of the heart-rending scene, which took place when they brought her into the apartment where her husband's body lay ; of her throwing herself upon his corpse, and kissing the lead man's face ; of the fearful imprecations, which, in her mad- ness, she called down upon the heads of those who had separa- :ed her from all that she held dear ; and these things were re- ated to us by men, who turned shudderingly away, from the exhibition of a sorrow which no earthly power could assuage, [t is, moreover, stated that her companions were obliged to lold her forcibly down in tKe carriage, from whence her frantic exclamations rang out along the prairie, as they conveyed her rom her home, to the chamber of the dead. 3°2 A RATHER DANGEROUS EXCURSION CHAPTER XXXIY. A SNOWY NIGHT IN A SETTLER ? S CABIN. January 1th, Evening. — We are back again in our accustoraee seat, at the "best hotel" in Lawrence, having arrived by ou; own private conveyance (Shank's mare), some two hours ago. Wi find matters and things at the "Cincinnati" in very much thi| same condition as they were when we left here yesterday morning to make our "hegira"to Judge Portly's. The old lady hai grown no stouter ; the long-tongued damsel no less talkative 1 while the red hot stove at our back, the wrangling of the politi cal disputants at our side, and the stifling air of this over-heated sitting-room are, we regret to say, quite as annoying as tfee; ever were Add to these, that "Our Correspondent " has a first class nervous headache, and, then, for sweet charity's sake, if noj for ours, make all due allowances for the shortcomings of this day'; log. So, having written our preamble, let us "go back to fchl beginning," and take up the thread of our interrupted narrative We were, if we mistake not, at " Peirson's Claim," fronj whence we sallied forth, after completing our note-taking, witl our friends Barber and Captain Jack Quarter, as guides, to line our way across the prairie, back to the residence of the firs named individual, at whose cabin we had been invited to spen< the night. Nor was our walk thither either a pleasant, or foi that matter, a very safe excursion ; for in the three hours whiclj had elapsed since our arrival at Peirson's, there had been, wha CAPTAIN JACK QUARTER 333 ;he " clerk of the weather n might have called, a " perturbation n n the atmosphere • in fact, a sombre winter evening had gone rom bad to worse, by transforming itself into a boisterous January night, whose intense darkness, would have rendered it efficiently difficult to find our way, through the accumulated Irifts which had obliterated every vestige of a trail across the )rairie, even without the additional disadvantage of a driving now-storm, which beat blindingly in our faces, and made us airly bow our heads as we turned to face its fury upon our lomeward track. Fortunately for us, however, we had an ;xcellent guide in Gaptain Jack Quarter, who being an old ;ailor. piloted us by the direction of the wind, which was blow- ng a gale from the north-west, in which direction, or nearly so, )ur true course lay. But notwithstanding the feeling of security tfhich was engendered by the Captain's assurance, that " though t blew great guns, and had a dirty look to windward, he'd mng us safely into harbor for all that," it was with no little Measure — not to mention a certain feeling of relief — that we iaught the first glimpse of the ruddy light which gleamed forth nto the darkness, like a messenger of welcome, from the low case- nent of Barber's solitary cabin. A few minutes later, found us :hawing out over the cooking-stove, where a hot supper was in process of preparation, under the supervision of the settler's ivife, a clever little body, who bustled about cheerfully, as she lid what tidy hands could do, to render her frontier home com- 'ortable, at least so far as its rude accommodations would permit, ;o her husband's unexpected guests. " What would you have done," said we to the Captain, when were once more safely housed, " if we had lost our way upon ;he prairie V* " Done," replied the Captain, after a moment's thought ; ' why I should have got into a hollow, and if possible found t-he ee-side of a hill ; and then I would have picked me out a path 334 BLOWING GREAT GUNS. fifteen or twenty yards long, where I could have had the wine at my side, and walked it back and forth, like a skipper on hi; quarter-deck, till morning. And now that I have answerec your questions, do you know what I would have done if, having lost our way, you should have tried to go to sleep V " Why, as for that I could scarcely say. Wake me up, per haps." " Wake you up," cried the Captain. " Yes, I'de have abusee you, picked a quarrel with you, pitched into you, and then kep you warm, and myself, too, by thrashing you until we had ligfa enough to find a shelter by." We thanked our friend for his kind intentions ; but expressei a hope that we might, on everybody's account, never be unde: the necessity of putting him to the trouble of so fatiguing ai exercise. And now, good pen, whip up ; increase your pace, or m shall be " most froze," and for aught we know to the contrary t " winter" upon paper at some settler's cabin on the prairie. So le us knock out the adjuncts and shorten our sentences. Ten o'clock, p. m. — Supper over — storm worse than ever- everybody very cold. Half an hour later — storm doing badlj and everybody much colder. Midnight — storm terrific — fir gone out — wood ditto, and no more to be had until morning Somebody proposes " going to bed." Everybody embrace somebody's idea. Settler's wife disappears into "the other hal of the house," for its single board partition makes a very in: partial division of this two room establishment. Settler's wif bustles about, is evidently "setting things to rights" — returns- presents us with a tallow dip in a log-cabin candlestick, sa having done so, intimates that " our" room is ready — whic by the way, includes the Captain, who is to be our bed-fe low. We " take the hint," and make our buenas noches accor* ingly. We open the partition door, and pop into a chambei BOOTS AND ALL. 335 whose temperature suggests the idea of Parry and the Poles. We could, without any particular tax upon our imagination, fancy ourself an Esquimaux, who feels really quite at home. For there is — no exaggeration by the way, Mr. Reader — about an inch of snow upon the floor, not to mention "a right smart sprinkling" over the bed, where it has drifted in through the badly-built walls. In fact, the snow-storm, which is at this moment doing its work, inside our sleeping apartments, is quite a pocket edition, or, perhaps, one might better call it an uncorrected abridgment of that which is even now " making night horrible" without — as the wintry winds blow and roar, and scream and call gustily to each other,' as they brush the white flakes from the hurrying wings which bear them howling across the unsheltered plain. In view of these circumstances we gaze round us as we enter, in silent consternation — it is too late to retreat —the settler and his wife have already " bunked in" on the floor, from whence their long-drawn snores already give notice that there are those who mn go to sleep, the warfare of disagreeing elements to the contrary, notwithstanding, the instant their heads touch the pillow. But one cannot meditate with any mental satisfaction — or for that matter, bodily either, when the mercury says, eighteen below zero — and the fire is non est to boot. So we made up our mind, pulled off our. boots, and then followed the example of our illustrious predecessor, the Captain, by plunging headforemost into bed, with everything ou — as we hope to be lucky — except the articles aforesaid. Mem.— we are not quite so confident that our bed-fellow took }fF his, but as he didn't wear spurs, and as we are of an easy dis- position, and by no means disposed to make a fuss about trifles, at least while sojourning upon the frontiers of Kansas — we con- :luded not to allude to the fact, but keep carefully out of range, est our friend, if ridden by the nightmare, should be inclined to 'aucy himself a horse, in which latter case, our chances of being 336 A BLESSED APPARITION. kicked to death before morning, seemed even more than moderately good. And being thus uncomfortably in bed, we turned our atten- tion toward making an effort to sleep — in short, we endeavored to compose ourself, but it was not to be done; no, " not at any price." The snow-storm inside bothered us — turn as we please — twist as we would — it was still the same. If we laid upon our back, the freezing particles watched their opportunity, and whenever we closed our eyes, descended in a trice, to build little suspension bridges across the lashes, or settle themselves to thaw upon the tip of our weather-beaten nose. Nor was our position improved by a change to either side, for our ears would be im- mediately attacked — while, if we. gave up and retreated — as we finally did — by fairly turning our back to the enemy — they took, us in the rear, and dropped flakes into our hair, where they goti up sliding parties, from the top of our organ of veneration — gi mighty small one by the way — down to the nape of our neck which gave them a clear run of at least eight inches — we have; just been measured so as to be sure of the distance — and, at th« same time, furnished us with the innocent, but withal soraewha nervous amusement, of keeping tally as they went. At lengtl we could stand it no longer, and were about giving up ou slumber in despair, when a blessed apparition caught our wear eye, which, though it came in a somewhat questionable sbape- don't be frightened — was neither sheeted ghost, nor goblin grin for though undoubtedly but " a thing of bone," 'twas nothing mor than an old blue cotton umbrella — a sort of family umbrellf built to shelter three of the real old-fashioned practical con mon sense kind. But, what had we to do with the umbrella- be it-big or little ? Ah 1 that's just it — for we assure you tht we regarded that umbrella, to quote from our fat hostess of tl Cincinnati, as " a clean dispersion of Providence." But how Well, listen and we will tell you. To return — we gazed sleepi at the apparition — suddenly a thought struck us — we sprai a 6SJWY M(,Uf IN A SKTTLKU'sj CABIN. " »l'e sprang out of b»;d — we seized upon this commodious, albeit somewhat dilapi- dated shelter— we regained our place among the blankets — we opened our prize, and spread it<< blue cotion canopy, with the Mies judiciously arranged, above our head, and then fell asleep. "—Page 3Sd. OUR BLUE UMBRELLA TENT. 337 out of bed — we seized upon this commodious, albeit somewhat dilapidated shelter — we regained our p'ace among the blankets — we opened our prize, and spread its blue cottou canopy, with the holes most judiciously arranged, above our head, and then fell asleep, like a virtuous Correspondent as we were, to dream — u Of covered pits, unfathomably deep, A dire descent! beyond the power of frost; Of faithless logs ; of precipices huge, Smoothed up with snow." ito which we were constantly tumbling, with an umbrella a mil© or two in diameter, by way of a saving parachute. January *ltk. — Up very early per force, with a snow-bank npon our legs, and our beard frozen fast to the Mackinaw blanket, hieh had formed an upper coverlet to the pile of robes, over- eats, etc., that we had heaped upon the bed. Our patent tent, by the way, had given out during the night, owing to an ('accumulation of snow, and the general airiness of its texture. dress — breakfast — write, and finally dine, at the very pri- Jmitive hour of noon, at Barber's. We linger a while to chat [ with our good-natured hostess, and then say good bye. We don our Buffalo overshoes, and foot it through the drifts of last night's i storm — which has now passed away, leaving the winter sky i "cold but clear" — to Judge Portly's — we approach the Squire's improvement — we contemplate entering — we see Dame Portly ° only window which hasn't got an old hat in it, and our •e fails us — the fire would be pleasant — a little something equally so — but then there's the " other half of that story.'* e ponder —second thoughts are best — our first intention has a r id or two with the second — result, the first thought is knocked, as a Yankee might say, "into everlasting fits," alias a cocked bit. It is but eight miles to Lawrence — we step out — two hours elapse — the sun is going down — we are once more within " the lines" — militarily speaking — which have in this 338 GRACIAS A DIOS. instance " fallen in unpleasant places'' — of the Sebastopol of the West. We were quite out of breath, but, gracias d Dios, back again — and for the other matters which should be chronicled upon our log-book for to-day, are they not written in the follow- ing chapter ? GENERAL JAMES H. LANE. 339 CHAPTER XXXY. FREE STATE FACTS. January the *lth, in continuation. — We have obtained from General Lane the necessary data with which to gratify the curiosity of those, who may desire to know something of this Free State leader's antecedents. James H. Lane was born in Boone County, Kentucky, on the twenty-second of June, 1822. He is a son of Amos Lane, a Western lawyer of considerable celebrity, who figured in the politics of his day as Speaker of the first Legislature of Indiana, and member of Congress during the Presidency of General Jackson, where he proved himself one of the warmest supporters of " Old Hickory's" administration. Young Lane was educated at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he afterwards studied law in the office of his father, and was admitted to the bar at an early age. In July, 1846, he raised a company of volunteers for the Mexican war at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, was elected captain, and marched with it to New Albany, in the same State. Here, he was elected colonel of the Third Indiana Yolunteers (not the Indiana regiment that was a little hurried at Buena Yista), and accompanied it to the seat of war. Upon his first visit to Mexico, Colonel Lane served under General Taylor for a year, and commanded (as he tells us) one- third of the troops engaged, at Buena Yista. In July of 1847, he returned to Indiana, but not to rest upon his laurels, for we find him actively enga<^ d in recruiting the Fifth Indiana regi- which he organized and brought out to Mexico. Of this 340 THE BRIGADIER'S ANTECEDENTS regiment he was colonel, under the command of Gen. Butler- was under fire with it in various skirmishes, ami joiued Scott in the city of Mexico ; but after the capture of that place. Upon the declaration of peace, Lane's regiment was disbanded, and hi July of 1848, we find the colonel laying aside his military rank, but only to be crowned with the civil honors which were awarded him in the following year by his adopted State. He was nomi- nated in 1849 as Lieut. Governor of Indiana, and elected by ten_ thousand majority. Before the expiration of his term of office he was selected as one of the electors for the State at large, and cast the vote of Indiana for President Pierce : was nominated and elected to Congress, by a majority of one thousand, in a dis- trict where his predecessor had gone in by a majority of but sixty votes ; was a member of the Thirty-second Congress ; voted for the Kansas and Nebraska bills, under instructions ; came to Kansas immediately after the adjournment of Congress, and set- tled near Lawrence, in which vicinity, the General informs us he has invested to the amount of seven thousand dollars, for the most part in real estate. He intends to remain in the Territory. In Kansas politics, General Lane claims to have been among the first to bring forward the necessity of a State organization, and to have draughted the national platform at the Big Spring Convention. General Lane is the chairman of the Executive Committee for the provisional government of Kansas, and was President of the Constitutional Convention. These facts may be relied upon, as we have obtained them from General Lane himself. The General says nothing of his military services in Kansas — but the intrenchments which encir- cle Lawrence, and which he himself planned, are still to be seen — a temporary monument at least to his talents as a military engineer, and in addition to these, a " well-drilled brigade," assures the beholder that the Brigadier-General has not n-; forgotten the tactics learned in Mexico under Scott and Tavlor. LUCKY LANE. 341 General Lane is talked of as a candidate for office, when Kansas gets to be a State — a Senator, we believe. We pre- sume that his very distinguished party services would, in such an event, secure him at least that amount of promotion, if not more. In person, we do not consider General Lane good-looking ; he is too much in the rough and ready style — nor is he prepos- sessing in his manners. But for all that, unless that lying jade, Dame Rumor, does him injustice, he is a great ladies' man, and wonderfully successful with the " soft sex," as Mr. Weller, senior, calls them. In his speeches and general political course, Lane is the very antipodes of Robinson, for where Robinson would throw on cold water, Lane would apply the fire-brand. He is fluent enough, but over strong in his expressions, and too incendiary in his suggestions to please a conservative man. But of these matters judge for yourselves, good people, for Lane goes East to lecture upon Kansas and " the War." past present, and to come. And now for a medley of Free State information, all jumbled together, as they have been noted down (first come, first served), in that repository of facts — our much-blotted note-book. So let us " write up " Kansas scrip to begin with. Kansas scrip, is a peculiar currency whose market value is about as difficult to quote as a Brazilian " millrea," which is, as every sailor who has put into Rio Harbor well knows, a fluc- tuating representative of an uncertain number of " dumps," and " dams," the latter being copper coins, of huge dimensions and exceedingly unclean exteriors. This scrip was the child of many discussions, but was finally brought forth by the Territorial Ex- ecutive Committee; when that august body authorized its issue to the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars. This paper may in some respects be considered valuable, insomuch as it pays the expenses of those who suck government pap, if there be any 342 KANSAS SCRIP. such in Kansas, or in other words, makes the political Free State Kansas mare go. It is not, however, to be confounded with the " war scrip," which is, as we learn, issued by the Territorial Executive Committee on their own responsibility. The lasrfc named scrip furnishes the sinews of war, digs entrenchments, buys rifles, and for aught we know to the contrary, fires them off to boot. The Free State that is to be, is supposed to foot the bill. The Free State Treasury has, however, another string to its bow, in the shape of an expectation to get these docu- ments cashed by Uncle Sam, through the influence of Governor Shannon. But we have good reason to suppose, that so far as such a recommendation would avail them, His Excellency the Governor would see the Free State party, scrip and all, in that extremity first, and then wouldn't endorse it. As a " true copy "of this precious paper maybe interest- ing to our Wall street and other financial operators, we will append the following sample, of Simon Pure Kansas scrip. KANSAS SCRIP. Wood cut: woman holding scales, supposed to be blind to her own interests. No. 62. Topeka. Nov. 26, This is to certify that Cyrus K. I bearer, is entitled, on presentation, to the Treasurer of the STATE OF KANSAS Twenty Dollars, with interest at ten ] annum, for account as per bill on file, ment of which the faith of the State is i Attest — J. K. Goodwin, Sec'y. J. H. Lane, Ch'n Ex. C [The Kansas Freeman Print, Topeka, 1855. $20. £ [OLLIDAY, Or "g ^ receive from A o bo u 3 per cent per & j for the pay- 'H jledged. a "3 « o ^ om., Kansas, g ^ Kansas.] £ THE FREE STATE PROPAGANDISTS. 343 We cannot say that we should care to invest very largely in either " wild cat baDks" or Kansas scrip. Apropos to official Free State Kansas documents, the fol- lowing "circular" will come in very properly here. We have been requested to circulate it, and take this method, as the best calculated to comply with the desire of these propagandists. It certainly proves that the good citizens of Lawrence are fully alive to the necessity of " tickling the ears of the dear people." Office Executive Committee, Kansas Territory, Jan. 4, 1856. Sir : A deputation, consisting of Messrs. Lane, Emery, Hunt, Goodin, Dickey, Holliday and Sampson, have been this day appointed to visit the United States, to plead before the people the cause of Kansas, and to con- vey and lay before Congress the constitution of the State, recently adopted by our fellow-citizens. We respectfully bespeak from the friends of free- dom such attention for them as the importance of their mission demands. They are instructed to visit and address, early in February, the people at Burlington, Iowa city, and Dubuque, Iowa ; Springfield and Chicago, Illinois ; Lafayette, Indianapolis and Richmond, Indiana ; Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio ; Detroit, Michigan ; Milwaukie and Madison, Wisconsin ; Buffalo, Rochester, New York city and Albany, New York ; Worcester, Lowell, Springfield, Salem and Boston, Massachu- setts ; Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut ; Providence, Rhode Island ; Portland, Augusta and Bangor, Maine ; Concord, New Hampshire ; Bur- lington, Vermont; Philadelphia, Harrisburgh and Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania. Done at the office of the Executive Committee, Kansas Territory, the day and year above written. J. K. Goodin, Secretary. J. H. LANE, Chairman. And here follow two documents which, though less pacific in their nature, are still historical facts, which even in the absence of any other testimony, would most conclusively prove that the Free State people of Kansas did have an army. We presume that the originals of these War Office forms will be treasured in the securest receptacle of many a Kansas Yolunteer, who 344 A KANSAS VOLUNTEER'S COMMISSION. will at some future day, in the pride of his heart, cause them to be framed and glazed, and hung upon his cabin wall, as an abiding remembrance, for his little ones at home, of that tre- mendous struggle — the famous Wakarusa war, which is — as yet ■ — like the Q. E. D. of the Irishman's proposition, "which wa3 to be demonstrated." The first is a copy of a Captain's Commission in the Free State Artillery : [Patriotic woodcut — An Eagle looking very fierce.] JAMES H. LANE, General Commanding the First Brigade of Kansas Volunteers. TO ALL WHO SHALL SEE THESE PRESENTS GREETING : Wliereas, it has been certified to me by the proper authorities, that Thomas B. has been duly elected to the office of Captain of the Kansas Artillery, of Kansas Volunteers, raised in the said Territory, by authority of the people of Kansas, to defend the city of Lawrence from threatened destruction by foreign invaders, Therefore, know ye, that in the name and by the authority of the said Territory, I do commission the said Thomas B., as aforesaid, in the said company, to serve from the date hereof until the said force retires from said Territory. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Lawrence City, the twenty-seventh day of November, a. d. 1855. J. H. Lane, General Commanding First Brigade Kansas Volunteers, M. G. Roberts, Aid, 1st Regiment Kansas Volunteers. [Herald of Freedom, Print.] And here follows the form of a private soldier's discharge, which will, in the good time coming, be valuable, if only for its autographs : Wood cut — ^ Headquarters Kansas Volunteers, ) a cannon. ) Lawrence City, Dec. 12th, 1855. f This is to certify that Richard Roe faithfully and gallantly served as private in the Lawrence Cadet Company (E) Kansas Volunteers, from the A KANSAS VOLUNTEER'S DISCHARGE. 345 27th day of November, 1855, to the 12th day of December, 1855, in defend- ing the City of Lawrence, in Kansas Territory, from demolition by foreign invaders, .when he was honorably discharged from said service. Solomon Wildes, Capt. Morris Hunt, Col. Commanding 3c? Regiment Kansas Volunteers. J. H. Lane, Gen. 1st Brigade Kansas Volunteers. C. Robinson, Major- General. For the present prospects of the Free State party, at least in the City of Lawrence, we cannot augur favorably. They appear to be disorganized, quarrelling among themselves, talk- ing about " loaves and fishes," as the heading of the annexed circular abundantly proves, and conducting themselves generally in such a suicidal way, as to excite a doubt in the mind of an impartial looker-on, as to the disinterestedness of some, and the zeal of others. " A house divided against itself shall not stand," saith the Scriptures, and so, we fancy, it may prove with the Free State party in Kansas. For they even now agree in disagree- ing, in evidence of which, we may remark that the regular " Free State ticket," has already been followed by another, styled the " Free State Anti- Abolition ticket," the words " Anti- Abolition " being its strong point, for it is intended to insinuate the idea, that if their principles be opposed to Abolitionism, those of the regular ticket men must a fortiori, be in favor of its ultra views. And, as many of the Free State men have seemed anxious to define their position, and at the same time purge themselves from the charge of Abolition proclivities, which the Missourians and Pro-Slavery men of Kansas have been heaping upon their heads, it is not improbable that this latter ticket may be elected, even if Anti- Abolition Free State-ism should be com- pelled, for policy's sake, to make a marriage de convenance, with " moderate Pro-Slavery." Such a course, indeed, was actually hinted at in a conversation which we held, during our stay in 15* 346 OH ! DEARY ME. Lawrence, with one of the candidates and prime movers of the new ticket. Certain it is, that they are raising heaven and earth, after their own fashion, to secure success; which means; driving about the country, talking, making speeches, distributing hand- bills, and abusing their opponents generally. There is one omen, however, against the "Anti-Abolition " ticket; it is said to have been concocted on a Sunday, in regard to which, one of our landladies of the Cincinnati — the fat and antiquated one — speaks as follows : "Oh ! deary me, well I never, ef them sacradotal men hain't a gone and bin inductin' of a party on the Sabber day; a flyin', as yeou might say, right smack in the face of the Commandments. Well, you needn't laugh, Mister, there won't no good come on it, I kin tell yeou. If yeou jest knowed, but ef course yeou don't, for it was afore yeou was a baby, I guess, but when I was being courted, and Seth Smalltree was a cumin' arter me, I know he and Bill Haddock inducted a party to go a slayin' with us gals, on a Sabber day evenin', and the slay got upsot, and, to be sure, nobody was hurt, but parson Johnson said it was a clear dispersion of Providence, that nobody wan't killed, and put it inter his sermon; he had a powerful gift in sermonizing, had parson Johnson next Sunday. So yeou see, Mister, ef what I say won't come true, for them misgiven men won't git no office at all, and all on account of breaking the Lord's day, as a 'body might say, right inter pieces. Well, deary me, what's the world a comin' to next, I wonder." Here the old lady got her knitting under way again, and as we saw her rocking-chair resume its pendulum-like vibra- tions, we turned quietly round to continue our interrupted jour- nalizing. But here arc the tickets — so pick and choose for yourselves, Kansas Free St it ■ r^ntlemen voters: THE RIVAL TICKETS. 347 Free State Abolition Free State Regular Office. Ticket. Ticket. Governor . . W. Y. Roberts. Charles Robinson. Lieut. Governor. . . . M. J. Parrott. W. Y. Roberts. Secretary of State . . C. K. Holliday. P. C. Schuyler. Auditor ..W. R. Griffith. J. A Cutler. Treasurer . .E. C. K. Garvey. J. A. Wakefield. Attorney General , , . H. Miles Moore. H. Miles Moore. Judges Sup. Court . Geo. W. Smith. S. Latte. « S. W. Johnson. W. Conway. U M It J. A. Wakefield. Morris Hunt. Rep. Sup. Court . . .S. B. McKenzie. Thurston. Clerk Sup. Court . . .S. B. Floyd. S. B. Floyd. State Printer .R. G. Elliott. John Speer. Rep. to Congress . . .M. W. Delahay. M. W. Delahay. We have introduced the "circular" anuexed as bearing upon these rival tickets and their backers. The James Redpath, ffho signs the letter, in relation to Judge Wakefield, is the present correspondent of the St. Louis Democrat, and for other papers. We have heard him bitterly condemned by the Pro-Slavery party, for alleged misrepresentations of Kansas difficulties, but as an offset to this, Mr. Redpath is spoken of in the highest terms by the leading men of his own party, who cer- tainly should know him best. E. C. K. Garvey, is probably the most active worker among the bolters, who are interested in the election of the Anti- Abolition ticket. The circular reads thus : "the loaves and fishes ticket. "The correspondence given below indicates that William Y. Roberts, Esq., does not sympathize very fully in the movement of certain disaffected politicians to get up a new ticket for the forthcoming election. " We learn that Judge Wakefield has been nominated as a can- didate for the supreme bench by the same faction, with Judge 348 LOAVES AND FISHES. Johnston, and Gr. W. Smith, Esq. E. C. K. Garvey is the nom- inee for Treasurer, and Elliot, of the Free State, for State prin- ter; in short, we believe, nearly the whole horde of disappointed political aspirants have been looked after on this ticket, and yet, with two or three exceptions, every nominee expresses no sym- pathy for the movement. Lawrence, K. T., Deo. 26