USA > Kansas > Douglas County > Lawrence > The Kansas memorial, a report of the Old Settlers' meeting held at Bismarck grove, Kansas, Sept. 15th and 16th, 1879 > Part 15
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I am a citizen of Kansas. I have never voted in any other State, except the first vote of my life, in my native State. For ten years past I have been detained in this district. I address myself to you as the chief officer of the State of my adoption, and ask you to represent my case to the people there- of, especially to the Old Guard, if not to the Legislature itself. I am not insane ; no symptoms of insanity have ever been truthfully ascribed to me. I am held simply on pretense of insanity.
Very truly your obedient servant, M. F. CONWAY.
General Conway concluded his remarks by saying :
Those who believe in God and who believe that God hears prayers, who love Kansas and who love the memory of Martin F. Conway, should take that poor man, to-day, in their prayers to God, that if there be any derangement in his mind yet, God, in his mercy, may remove it.
Adjourned to 2 p. m.
THE GRAND DINNER.
The dinner, one of the great features of the day, which thousands had come to partake of, was indeed a grand affair. The barbecue proper took place just south of the tabernacle. The roasted ox was there, as were also hogs, sheep, and other good things, and thousands ate and enjoyed it. But to have gathered the whole vast throng about the tables would have been an impos- sibility, and to have even filed them past would have occupied a much longer time than the managers had set down for the dinner hour. So here and there, under every tree that offered shade, were gathered groups of people, who spread their repasts upon the green grass. To a looker on the scene was one of the most pleasing that could be imagined. Those who had, gave to those who had not, and all ate and were filled.
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AFTERNOON SESSION.
POEM BY GEO. W. BROWN.
After the opening of the afternoon session, Tuesday, Sept. 16th, some brief proceedings were had before entering upon the formal speeches. First came a poem by Dr. Geo. W. Brown, which is here reproduced, in connection with a letter which Dr. Brown subsequently wrote, as follows:
ROCKFORD, ILL., Sept. 30, 1879
Gov. C. Robinson : - When I asked you, on the 16th inst., at Bismarck Grove, the privilege of reading the poem "Swear Ye Now, O My Brothers," which the immense audience listened to with rapt attention, neither of us were fully conscious how well we were building. Let me state the facts :
I met J. G. Haskell, Esq., of Lawrence, on the car, as I came down from Topeka, on Saturday afternoon, before the Old Settlers' Convention. He stated that he had a partial file of Vol. I, of the Herald of Freedom, left him by his deceased father. On the 16th, just as I was about to partake of a camp dinner with my brother-in-law, A. R. Leonard, Esq., Mr. Haskell handed me No. I, Vol. I of the Herald of Freedom to look at, exacting a pledge to return it to him in one hour. I had not examined that number before for more than twenty years. Stepping into the canvas tent with paper in hand, turning to the fourth page my eye instantly fell upon the poem under consideration. Remembering that I had parodied it, in 1854, from one written by Wm. Oland Bourne, and adapted it to Kansas, I read it aloud. My friends were so de- lighted they insisted it ought to be read to the Old Settlers, as a specimen of the inspiration of the early pioneers; and in the lan- guage of another, " I thought so too." Hence the reason of my request, which you, as chairman of the convention, so cheerfully granted.
Though anxious to hear Mr. Hale's address, which immedi- ately followed, my obligation to return the paper pressed me, and I left the rostrum to comply with my promise. On reaching Mr. L.'s tent I opened the paper, and on the third page, second column, under the title "Pennsylvania is Coming," read an account of the organization, on the 16th of September, 1854, of the party which I took out with me to Kansas, from Pennsylvania. As I read, the incidents connected with that organization burst upon me with great force. I had called the meeting at Boynton's Hall, Con- neautville, to assemble on the 16th of September, 1854, as will be seen by reference to the paper. The heads of families and such persons as had previously promised to accompany me to Kansas, responded to the invitation. We formally organized with a Consti- tution and By-Laws, and I was made President, and ex-officio, Mas- ter of Emigration. The outside forms of the Herald of Freedom
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with an edition of 21,000 copies had already been worked off, and I was about to commence press-work on the inside, delaying only to give the proceedings of the organization of our own party. Con- cluding our labors, and wishing to inspire my associates with the anti-slavery character of the enterprise, we had so solemnly under- taken, before adjourning, I asked them to rise while I should read, asking them to lift their hands to heaven at the place of the oath, which all did with alacrity. How well that oath was kept, history and the present prosperity of Kansas abundantly testify.
Twenty-five years from the day and hour from the time of reading that parodied poem to my Pennsylvania Company, I read it again to the assembled thousands at Bismarck Grove, forgetful in the excitement of its second reading, the important part it had already performed. Are not these facts worth a place in Kansas history ? Please find a copy of the adapted poem below.
Very truly yours, G. W. BROWN.
SWEAR YE NOW, OH, MY BROTHERS!
Lo! the Land of the West! where the Freeman shall rise, In the pride of his birth, with his standard on high, And shall point to the East, where the flush of the skies Gives the promise of Freedom that never shall die ! And the sun as he wheels in his chariot of day,
Shall convey from the East, and the lakes of the North, In the flash of his beam, and the light of his way,
Holy vows of the Freemen that utter them forth.
Shall these plains ever sound with the cry of the slave? Shall these vales ever moan o'er the shackle and chain ? Shall the Kansas bear down with its wealth to the grave,
Reddened drops of the blood wrung in anguish and pain ? Say, oh, Freeman! canst thou in these valleys foredoom To the bond, and the lash, and the night of despair, To the grave of the soul, and the heart's rayless tomb, Countless throngs that shall toil in their misery there?
Let the Southron go back with his chivalric claim ! Shall the Freeman yield up when his life is at stake ? Let the Everglades welcome the depth of the shame, While Freedom the bonds of the victim shall break. There is land enough now with the curse of the slave, And the day shall arrive when that, too, shall be free ; Stand ye firm, Freemen all ! ye shall now dig the grave Where the shackle, and chain, and the fetter shall be.
By the vow that was sworn on the altars of old, Where our fathers stood up and appealed to their God; By the blood that was shed, richer far than the gold
That allures to the land where the Indian has trod;
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By the free air we breathe, and the soil that we love,
And the hopes springing forth of the depths of the soul; By the RIGHTS OF ALL MEN-by the Ruler above,
Not a slave shall be found where the Kansas does roll !
Swear ye now, oh, my brothers! the vow liveth long! It is freedom that calls you from sleeping to-day ! If ye quit you like men, ye shall echo the song, O'er the hills and the vales, in your glorious array ! And the age shall give birth to an empire of hope ; And the land shall bring forth of her treasures of peace, While the rivers and streams, leaping down from the slope
Of the mountains of gold, shall the riches increase.
ADDRESS BY JOHN P. JOHNSON.
Hon. John P. Johnson of Doniphan County was called upon and came forward and spoke briefly. He said :
I came to Kansas early. The Kansas-Nebraska bill esta- blished two Territories, and made the dividing line the fortieth pa- rallel of latitude. The pro-slavery people said, it was the under- standing, though not expressed in the bill, that north of the line was to be made a free State and south of the line a slave State. Whether there was any such understanding or not, I was assigned the duty by Mr. Pierce's administration of running the line: of marking the boundary line between Kansas and Nebraska. I came out in the fall of 1854 and ran the line, and I became a permanent resident of Kansas. However much I may have been a Pierce Democrat to begin with, I was always a free state man, and put in my vote with those who helped to keep slavery from Kansas.
ADDRESS BY JAMES HANWAY.
Gov. ROBINSON : I will introduce to you an Old Settler who has not only helped to make some of the history of Kansas, but has contributed not a little to its written records : Hon. James Hanway of Lane.
Judge Hanway said :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
I was not here when the vote was taken, as to those present who cast their ballots for Hale and Julian in 1852, of which I am told there were fifty-six in number. I wish to add one more to the number and to say, that I not only voted that ticket but I was also a delegate to the convention at Pittsburg, which nominated the candidates.
I will add a remark concerning the picture which is known as "John Brown's Cabin," taken in the year 1871, by Barker, pho- tographic artist of Ottawa, Kansas.
As every little incident connected with the history of John
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Brown, the hero of Harper's Ferry, when on his mission work in Kansas, during the troubles which took place during the early set- tlement of the Territory, is regarded with especial interest, I will extend my remarks and relate how the picture came into existence, and to correct a slight error which has by some means been trans- mitted with the circulation of the picture. I have been informed that one thousand of these photographs were sent to the Centennial for sale or distribution ; it is therefore proper that the public should know the exact facts concerning the accuracy of the remarks prin- ted on the back of the photograph.
When the Hon. C. C. Hutchinson was writing his book enti- tled "Resources of Kansas," he wrote a letter to me making cer- tain inquiries concerning John Brown's visit to my residence, and to relate other personal recollections of the old hero. In the mean- time he engaged Mr. Barker, of Ottawa, to take the picture of the old log cabin. On a very windy day Mr. Barker made his appear- ance and I rendered to him what little assistance I was able. The "Resources of Kansas" was published, and a picture named " John Brown's Cabin " appeared on page twenty of the book. Then followed the comments :
" The above cut is from a photograph taken for this book by Barker, photographic artist of Ottawa, Kansas, who has copies for sale. It is a view of the only building now standing in which John Brown, the abolitionist, ever lived in Kansas. No less than six of those who fell at Harper's Ferry upon the occasion of Brown's raid into Virginia, had eaten and slept in this cabin. The figure with the uncovered head is the venerable James Hanway, and the other Mr. Wasson, who were neighbors, companions and friends of Capt. Brown. The former at one time lived in the cabin, when it was that old Mr. Brown wrote his famous parallels under the roof. (See Redpath's Life of Brown, page 218.) Through the doorway and against the open space made by the fall of the huge old-fashioned chimney, may be seen the ends of ox-bows suspended to-day.
" These tell the story of the 'piping times of peace' which have come since the day that John Brown threw himself into the jaws of death to rescue an oppressed people. The cabin, now rapidly falling into decay, stands in Franklin county, about one mile from Lane post-office."
The paragraph which I take exception to is the one which says : " It is a view of the only building now standing in which John Brown ever lived in Kansas."
This conveys the impression that Brown made this cabin his residence when in Kansas. This is incorrect, for there were other cabins in which the old gentleman tarried when on trips from place to place. On North Middle Creek, on the farm of Mr. Day- eight miles southeast of Ottawa-John Brown caused to be erected a cabin for the purpose of pre-empting the claim for his brother-in- law, Mr. Day, the father of the present occupant of the farm, but I never learned that he ever lived on it; for after the month of May, 1856, he was never stationary, but all the time on the war-path, until he left Kansas for a season.
After the Pottawatomie tragedy occurred, the John Brown Jr. cabin, with a valuable library, were burned down by the ruffians. This cabin was located a short distance south of the Day cabin.
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The other sons of John Brown had claims about one-and-a-half miles south-now known as Brown's Run.
As soon as the negative was obtained, Mr. Barker struck off a large number of pictures-"John Brown's Cabin." I wrote a note to him to inquire why he had the words "John Brown's Cabin " printed on the picture, thinking it might mislead those not acquain- ted with the facts of the case.
He said it occurred thus: When the printer undertook the job to print what is now found on the back of the picture, he asked Mr. Barker, the artist, what name it should be known by. Mr. B. had not thought about this part of the subject. The printer, there- fore, suggested the name of "John Brown's Cabin," and Barker consented. So much for the name.
The cabin, the picture of which has been so extensively circu- lated in all parts of the country, has, however, many interesting reminiscences connected with its history which may be referred to in a very few words :
In the Spring of 1856, I secured a young man to hold the quarter section for my son-John S. H., till my family moved to Kansas, the following Spring-in 1857. He took possession of it and pre-empted it, the same year, my family living in the cabin till the year 1859, then removed to my present residence on the high prairie.
The cabin was what was termed a pre-emption cabin, and John Brown had nothing to do with the building of it, or made it his special home. He was always a welcome visitor.
There are other reminiscences connected with the old cabin, which may be of some interest to the general reader.
Colonel James Montgomery, when pressed by the pro slavery officials of Linn county, always found a safe retreat from his bor- der-ruffian enemies. Others of the jayhawkers, as they were called, frequently found an asylum here during the border troubles. Kagi, Jerry Anderson and others, who cast their lots with the old hero, and who fell at the Harper's Ferry raid were frequent visitors. Other Kansas heroes have entered its portals, such men as Stewart, the fighting preacher; Maj. J. B. Abbott, who afterward became bet- ter known as one of the rescuers of Dr. Doy from a Missouri prison, confined on a charge of running off fugitive slaves. Dr. J.H. Gill- patrick, and the self-constituted court to arbitrate the conflicting pre-emption claims of Linn county started from this cabin to orga- nize themselves into "Squatters' Court of Claims" which resulted in producing a beneficial effect in harmonizing the conflicting par- ties, free-State and pro-slavery.
An incident illustrative of life in Kansas in those troubled days, may properly be introduced while we are speaking of the old Log Cabin :
One morning about nine o'clock, ten or a dozen persons were seen making their way at a lively gait in the direction of the old ca- bin. Every man was ornamented with a couple of navy revolvers,
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and in addition a Sharp's rifle was hanging from his side. Occa- sionally might be seen a large bowie knife or an "Arkansas tooth- pick," as they were sometimes called ; the boots forming the scab- bard, the handle of the frightful weapon stuck out a few inches above the tops which were generally of red leather. Their long shaggy beards, their long military buckskin gloves and their gene- ral appearance produced a momentay feeling of surprise. They rode up before the cabin door and halted, one of the party, the late Dr. Gillpatrick inquired if breakfast could be obtained for ten, they were in a hurry, and had many miles to travel before sun-down. When an affirmative answer was given, they dismounted, each man leading his horse to the shed to be fed.
My wife (which by the bye was very natural) began to ask some leading questions. Dr. Gillpatrick who had been intimately acquainted with the family for many years replied, "No questions must be asked," the request was obeyed, but every member of the family wondered the more " what does all this mean." A hasty breakfast was prepared and the party sat down to the table. From the back of each chair the navy revolvers were suspended by a belt. My wife laying her hand on the revolvers on the chair occupied by the " fighting preacher," Stewart remarked :
" We are told in Scripture to entertain strangers, for thereby we may entertain angels unawares, but I would not suppose angels would carry with them such instruments of destruction as these." The "fighting preacher " dropped his knife and fork, and turning half round in his chair, remarked : "Madam, if they traveled in Kansas, they would soon find it was necessary.'
This breakfast party was the "squatters' court," organized to arbitrate the contested claims of Linn and Bourbon counties. One word concerning the " famous parallels," written by old John Brown, after he had rescued eleven slaves and brought them to Kansas. Mr. Hutchinson, in his "Resources of Kansas," says, these " Parallels " were written in this famed old cabin. I expect I am responsible for this remark, for I so reported to Mr. H. at the time he was collecting materials for his book. The "Parallels " were dated from the Trading Post; this was very proper that they should be. A few days after, John Brown, Kagi, and Jerry An- derson spent several days with us, prior to the removal of the ele- ven rescued slaves-the latter had been kept within a few miles of the cabin for nearly a month, and cared for by a few friends of the slaves. 3 One morning the old captain read over the " Parallels," and asked my opinion respecting the publication of the paper, etc. He said he was going to send a copy to the New York Tribune and another copy to the Lawrence Republican. Kagi that morning started for Osawatomie, and it was my impression that he took with him the two articles and placed them in the post- office.
Soon after Mr. Hutchinson's book was published, I was infor- med that this fact was called in question, stating that they were
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written at the Trading Post. The article referred to I never read ; of course I know not what were the points in question. The cir- cumstance is not very important, whether they were written at the Trading Post, or "under the roof of the old cabin." One fact I can speak with confidence, that John Brown read the " Parallels" to me before they appeared in print.
Another incident I have forgotten to relate in the proper place : It was in this cabin that the Pottawatomie rifle company under Capt. John Brown Jr., stacked their arms when they paid a friendly visit to Judge Cato's court, in April, 1856. The free state settlers were anxious to learn what position Judge Cato would take in his charge to the grand jury, concerning the celebrated " Bogus-laws" of the Shawnee Mission. This visit of our citizens was con- strued by the court as a demonstration unfavorable to the execution of the Bogus laws. Before daylight the next morning, Cato and his pro-slavery officials had left-they were on their way to Lecomp- ton, and the grand jury was dismissed from further labor. This was the first and the last time that this section of the country was visited by pro-slavery officials.
A few years after the photograph was taken, the logs of the old log cabin became rotten and unsafe for even stock to shelter under. It was pulled down and cut up for fire-wood. A few stones of the chimney remain scattered on the ground; and this is all that re- mains of the memorable old cabin. The spring still flows as in former days. Most all of the old residents have died or moved away. In a few years more the reminiscences connected with the cabin and the old military parade-ground will have passed away, and no one will remain to tell of the early scenes of pioneer life on the banks of the Pottawatomie.
The wife of old John Brown was never in Kansas to my know- ledge. He had a daughter married to Thompson, and one or more of his sons had brought their wives with them. They left soon af- ter the Pottawatomie tragedy took place.
ADDRESS BY JAMES S. EMERY.
Gov. ROBINSON :- I take pleasure in introducing to you one of the earliest and most faithful of the pioneers of Kansas-one who has taken a lively interest in getting up this celebration, and to whom the success of the gathering is largely due, Hon. James S. Emery, of Lawrence.
Judge Emery said :
Fellow-Citizens :
We look backward to-day. We looked forward twenty-five years ago. When we began the work of founding a State in the new Territory of Kansas we had high hopes and large expecta- tions. In the entire realization of all these hopes and in the com- plete fulfillment of these expectations, we come up from all parts of
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our young Commonwealth to celebrate, with fitting ceremonies, what the orator of yesterday so happily termed "the silver wed- ding of the Republic of Kansas." It will be for others-our chil- dren-when many of us now here shall have found out the great secret of this life, to celebrate the golden wedding of what shall then be an empire of human souls. We are deeply interested in the impartial verdict, which history shall put upon record. We have lived largely in the public eye whilst that record has been making. Our privileges have been great, our opportunities have been vast, our post, these past years, though one at times of dan- ger has been high and honorable. The world has expected much of us. How much we have achieved for the good of mankind the muse of history, years hence, alone shall say. But let us not glo- rify ourselves to-day. If we have wrought well, it has been be- cause our times happen to have fallen upon a period of grand op- portunity-of storm, of unrest, of change, of a revolution in the two kinds of civilization that once took root upon the Western Con- tinent-the one at Jamestown, the other at Plymouth Rock. But standing here beneath a September sun, at the closing up of al- most a generation of human life led upon these prairies, with plen- ty on the earth and splendor in the heavens, in the presence of this vast assemblage, I think I may affirm of Kansas' history what Mr. Webster, in high debate, once affirmed of Massachusetts' his- tory. He said, "The world knows it by heart ; there let it stand." He further said, "The bones of her sons fallen in the Revolution lie mingled with the soil of every State from Maine to Georgia." So I say of Kansas' history. The world knows it by heart; there let it stand-the bones of her sons fallen in the Rebellion, beginning at Wilson's Creek, lie mingled with the soil of every Confederate State. Hence I come to offer no apology for that history-it needs none. It began to be made when slavery dominated in every de- partment of the government-it ended when freedom was firmly intrenched in the free soul of a strong young State.
I have said our times fell in a period of storms, and I think I may say that from the hour the first settlers crossed the Missouri State line in 1854, up to the climax in this war of civilizations, eleven years later, at Appomattox, Kansas was but one vast mili- tary camp. We began here at the time when Mr. Greeley wrote these ominous words : "It is all blackness, without a single gleam of light, a desert without a single spot of verdure ; a crime that can show no redeeming spot." We began here at the time of the real opening of the Rebellion. As the eloquent orator so well said two years ago, in your hearing, on the very spot where we now stand : " While others go to Charleston to see where the first gun of the Rebellion was fired against Sumter, I come to Kansas to see where the first gun of the Rebellion was fired, on the 30th of March, 1855, against the ballot box."
Upon our record, begun under such untoward circumstances and ending in the full tide of prosperity and glorious promise, the
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contemporaneous judgment of our country has been most lenient and most flattering. Mr. Seward, the foremost statesman in the anti- slavery conflict, said of us on our streets in 1860: "Henceforth if my confidence in the stability of the American Union wavers, I shall come up here to learn that the Union is stronger than human ambition, because it is founded in the affections of the American people. If ever I shall waver in my affection for freedom, I shall come up here and renew it; here, under the inspiration of one hundred thousand free men saved from slavery. Henceforth these shall not be my sentiments alone, but the sentiments of all. Men will come up to Kansas as they go up to Jerusalem." And now the Quaker poet of America, in the fullness of his years, and whose failing health and strength only have prevented his presence here to day, sends greeting these golden words : " No one of all your sister States has such a record as yours-so full of pride and ad- venture, fortitude, self sacrifice. Its baptism of martyrs' blood not only saved the State to liberty, but made the abolition of slav- ery everywhere possible." That opinion alone, connected with the immortality of Whittier's genius, settles forever the question which lifted itself directly in the path of every free state settler, a quarter of a century ago, as he first stepped upon the virgin soil of this infant Territory, what shall the verdict be? Fifty years hence, in the clearer sunlight of the coming age, the historian will search out such opinions as these-these of the statesman and poet-as his supreme authority, in indicting the world's judgment upon our acts, and here, I ask, may we not rest our case ?
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