Before Marshal Donaldson had issued the proclamation copied in our
last chapter, the citizens of Lawrence had forwarded to Gov. Shannon
the following:
WHEREAS, We have most reliable information of the
organization of guerrilla bands, who threaten the
destruction of our town and its citizens; therefore
_Resolved_, That Messrs. Topliff, Hutchingson and Roberts
constitute a committee to inform His Excellency of these
facts, and to call upon him, in the name of the people of
Lawrence, for protection against such bands by the United
States troops at his disposal.
To this the Governor made the following reply:
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, May 12, 1856.
GENTLEMEN: Your note of the 11th inst. is received, and in
reply I have to state that there is no force around or
approaching Lawrence, except the largely constituted
_posse_ of the United States Marshal and Sheriff of
Douglas county, each of whom, I am informed, has a number
of writs in his hands for execution against persons in
Lawrence. I shall in no way interfere with these officers
in the discharge of their official duties.
If the citizens of Lawrence submit themselves to the
Territorial laws, and aid and assist the Marshal and the
Sheriff in the execution of processes in their hands, as
all good citizens are bound to do when called upon, they
will entitle themselves to the protection of the law. But
so long as they keep up a military or armed organization
to resist the Territorial laws and the officers charged
with their execution, I shall not interpose to save them
from the legitimate consequences of their illegal acts.
The following is a list of the notabilities that were in command of
the army that was to serve as the _posse_ of Marshal Donaldson, David
R. Atchison in command of the Platte county riflemen of Missouri;
Capt. Dunn, of the Kickapoo Rangers; Gen. B. F. String fellow, Robert
S. Kelley and Peter T. Abell having charge of the recruits from
Atchison; Col. Wilkes, of South Carolina; Col. Titus, of Florida; Col.
Boone, of Westport, Mo., and Col. Buford, of South Carolina. More than
three-fourths of this army was composed of non-residents of Kansas.
A third time the citizens of Lawrence called a public meeting, and
this time they appeal to Marshal Donaldson. They say, "We beg leave to
ask respectfully, what are the demands against us?" They repeat their
oft-repeated assurance that they will submit to arrests, and demand
protection against the gathering mob from the men representing the
authority of the General Government. Marshal Donaldson only replied
with jeers and insults. The people of Lawrence were indeed in evil
case.
The beleagured citizens saw themselves shut in by armed bands, engaged
in murder, robbery, and plunder; and this time they appealed to the
Investigating Committee, now gone to Leavenworth; but that committee
had no power to help them. Col. Sumner could not help them, unless the
Governor should speak the word; and Shannon was dumb.
Lane had gone East; Robinson was a prisoner; Ex-Gov. Reeder had fled,
disguised as a common laborer; and others were in hiding; and perforce
the management of affairs had to be given into the hands of new men. A
Committee of Public Safety was chosen, and this committee determined
on a policy of abject submission and non-resistance. A committee of
volunteers from Topeka offered their assistance, but were told: "We
do not want you." Pusillanimous as Gov. Shannon was, he found he had a
man to deal with more pusillanimous than himself, in the person of S.
C. Pomeroy, chairman of the Committee of Public Safety. Citizens of
Lawrence left in unspeakable disgust. The people of the Territory
looked on in amazement. The boys jeeringly called the Committee of
Public Safety "The Committee of the Public Safety Valve."
The writer had given his testimony before the Investigating Committee
while they were yet in Lawrence. A number of South Carolinians had
been present while this testimony was being given, and they had
protested in a towering rage, "We will shoot Butler on sight." It was
evident the town had to be given up to the tender mercies of this mob
of ruffians. There was nothing to be gained by remaining, and the
writer, sick at heart, went back to Atchison county; but he afterwards
returned to see the blackened ruins of the desolated town.
On May 21st the monster _posse_, led on by Marshal Donaldson and
Deputy Marshal Fain, gathered around the doomed city. The town was
quiet--unusually so. Deputy Marshal Fain went into the city and
arrested G. W. Deitzler, G. W. Smith and Gains Jenkins, on the charge
of treason. The Marshal went to the Free State hotel, that they were
soon to batter down, and got his dinner, _and went away without paying
for it._ And now the opportune moment had arrived for the final
_denouement_. Sheriff Jones--the mourned and lost and murdered and
much-lamented Sheriff Jones--whose tragic death had fired the hearts
of all the Missouri border, now put in an appearance and showed
himself a mighty lively corpse, and led his _posse_ into the town. The
flag of the lone star of South Carolina, blood-red, and on which was
inscribed the motto, "Southern Rights," floated beside the Stars and
Stripes. The monster _posse_, with loaded cannon, marched into the
city and in front of the Free State hotel, and the "Committee of the
Public Safety Valve" was called for. Mr. Pomeroy came forward and
shook hands with Sheriff Jones--should not _gentlemen_ shake hands
when they meet? Sheriff Jones demanded the arms of the people,
otherwise he would bombard the town. Mr. Pomeroy went and dug up the
cannon that had been buried, and surrendered it to Jones. But further
than this he could not go: _the people had their arms, and intended to
keep them_. Then they tried to batter down the Free State hotel with
cannon. Failing in this, they tried to blow it up with powder; and,
failing in that, they burned it down. They also destroyed the two
printing presses, burning the buildings, and then sacked the town.
Sheriff Jones was beside himself with joy. In frantic excitement he
said, "I have done it! I have done it! This is the happiest moment of
my life! I determined to make the fanatics bow before me in the dust
and kiss the Territorial laws, and I have done it! The writs have been
executed. Boys, you are dismissed." It will be doing Senator David R.
Atchison, Ex-Vice-President of the United States, a kindness to
conclude simply that he was drunk, otherwise he displayed utter
savagery and barbarism. He inculcated gallantry to ladies, but said:
"If you find any woman with arms in her hands, tread her under foot as
you would a snake." The Caucassian white woman of Lawrence had no more
rights of self-protection than the slaves of a South Carolina rice
plantation--they were wholly and absolutely at the mercy of their
masters!
We have no comments to make on the work of this drunken rabble; but
there is one man that must be held to a terrible responsibility before
the judgment-seat of posterity. Gov. Wilson Shannon was not drunk: and
it is to be presumed he had read that Constitution of the United
States which he had so often sworn to support. He knew, therefore,
that this document stipulates:
1. "That the right of the people to _keep_ and bear arms shall not be
infringed;" yet he showed a fixed purpose to deprive the Lawrence
people of their arms.
2. The Governor knew that the Constitution guarantees "freedom of
speech and of the press" to the American people; yet the burning of
these printing presses was an attack on the freedom of the press.
3. The Constitution guarantees that "in all criminal prosecutions the
accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial." Property
of large value was destroyed because its owners were charged with high
crimes and misdemeanors; yet the owners of this property had never
been given a trial.
4. Gov. Shannon alleged that it was treasonable for the people of
Kansas Territory to frame a State Constitution without an enabling act
from Congress; yet California had done this very thing, and under that
Constitution had been admitted as a State.
5. He treated the Free State men as traitors, because they would not
admit the legality of the Lecompton Territorial Legislature. But the
majority of the Investigating Committee held the same view with the
Lawrence people, and Congress affirmed the same judgment in
permanently unseating Mr. Whitfield as Territorial delegate to
Congress.
Would that men could remember that there is a _hereafter_; that
_to-morrow_ forever sits in judgment on _to-day._ There are three men
most conspicuous in the sacking of Lawrence. Let us look at them in
the electric light of the awful _to-morrow._ Since the Kansas struggle
had begun David R. Atchison had made himself the most conspicuous
figure. He was the representative of the John C. Calhoun school of
Southern politics, and from the hour of the destruction of Lawrence he
was to disappear from public view, as absolutely as that Free State
hotel which was burned by his orders; yet he did not die--he was
simply _buried alive_ out of the public sight. He was done with the
nation, and the nation was done with him. He went back and lived on
his plantation in Western Missouri, where he was forgotten. It is said
he loved his slaves so well, and petted them so much, that they became
masters on the plantation, and not himself. He lived to see Kansas a
free State, with almost a million of inhabitants, and fairly taking
the lead of Missouri in the elements of education, enterprise, and the
highest civilization.
We have seen the crawling servility with which Gov. Shannon served the
"Law and Order" party; yet in less than three months he was to see
his office as Governor go up in smoke, as these burning buildings had
gone up in smoke. Mr. S. became frantic when he saw the carnival of
bloodshed and murder, of riot and robbery, that had been brought about
by his means. Dr. Gihon, the incoming Gov. Geary's private secretary,
reported that Mr. Shannon fled the Territory in fear of his life. When
the troubles were over he came to Kansas and sought the pity and
forgiveness of that city he had turned over to the tender mercies of a
mob of ruffians. It need not be said that he could have done no
better, for his successor, Gov. Geary, had only to speak a word and
this tumult of disorder was instantly hushed.
As the years went by the people could not believe that a man that
displayed so many good and amiable qualities could have been a party
to such outrages as characterized his administration. He died in
Lawrence very much respected.
Sheriff Samuel J. Jones strutted his brief hour on this stage in which
the play had been both a bloodcurdling tragedy and a comedy; and now
he was to step down and out. In the last act he had said, "_I have
done it!" And he had done it_! He and his fellow conspirators, whether
of high or low degree, had set in operation a train of causes that
should issue in abolishing throughout the United States that
institution of slavery they had so frantically sought to establish in
Kansas.
Joseph said to his brethren, "You meant it for evil, but the Lord
meant it for good." _Sheriff Jones and his fellow conspirators were in
the Lord's hands, but they did not know it_.