“Mr. Brooks then walked out of the House of
Representatives.”[144]
In fact, his resignation was already in the hands of the Governor of
South Carolina, to take effect on his announcing his resignation to the
House. In this way he avoided any other censure, after the failure of
the resolution of expulsion.
Returning to South Carolina, Mr. Brooks presented himself again to his
constituents, and was triumphantly reëlected. On the 1st of August,
1856, his commission was presented to the House, when, according to the
_Globe_, he “came forward and the Speaker administered to him the oath
to support the Constitution of the United States.”
While proceedings were pending in the House, Mr. Brooks was indicted by
the Grand Jury of the District of Columbia. The following letters of
Mr. Sumner, written at Silver Spring, near Washington, where he was the
guest of F. P. Blair, Esq., show his indisposition to take part in the
proceedings.
“SILVER SPRING, June 30, 1856.
“DEAR SIR,--I find myself unable to attend Court to-day. Since
the summons of the Marshal, I have suffered a relapse, by which
I am enfeebled, and also admonished against exertion. Being
out of town, I have not had an opportunity of consulting my
attending physician; but a skilful medical friend, who has
visited me here, earnestly insists that I cannot attend Court
for some time without peril to my health.
“I have the honor to be, dear Sir,
“Your faithful servant,
“CHARLES SUMNER.
“P. BARTON KEY, Esq., Attorney of the United States.”
“SILVER SPRING, July 1, 1856.
“DEAR SIR,--I have your letter of 30th June, in which you ask
my consent with regard to the course you shall take in the
conduct of a criminal proceeding now pending in the Circuit
Court of the United States for the District of Columbia. I am
surprised at this communication. In giving my testimony before
the Grand Jury, I stated that I appeared at the summons of
the law, and that I wished it distinctly understood that the
proceeding was instituted without any suggestion on my part,
and that I had nothing to do, directly or indirectly, with its
conduct. Nothing has occurred to change my relation to the
proceeding. Its whole conduct belongs to the Attorney of the
United States.
“I am, dear Sir,
“Your faithful servant,
“CHARLES SUMNER.
“P. BARTON KEY, Esq., Attorney of the United States.”
When the trial came on, Mr. Sumner had left for Philadelphia. Mr.
Brooks was sentenced to pay a fine of three hundred dollars.
William Y. Leader, of Philadelphia, who testified before the
magistrate, drew up the following account of the assault, which is now
published for the first time.
“I arrived in Washington City on the morning of the 22d of
May, 1856. It was my first visit to Washington. After attending
to some business, I visited the Capitol. It was about twelve
o’clock, and both Houses of Congress were in session. I went
to the Hall of the House of Representatives first. I remained
until the House adjourned, which was in a short time, as no
business was transacted further than the passage of some
resolutions in relation to, and several addresses on, the
death of Hon. John G. Miller, of Missouri. I next went to the
gallery of the Senate Chamber. Hon. Mr. Geyer, of Missouri, was
delivering a eulogy on the death of Mr. Miller, after which a
series of resolutions on the same subject were passed, when
the Senate adjourned. I then went into the Senate Chamber, for
the purpose of delivering a letter to Hon. J. J. Crittenden,
but, finding him engaged talking to the Hon. L. S. Foster, of
Connecticut, I walked up and down the Chamber, waiting until he
would be disengaged. While doing so, a gentleman mentioned the
name of Mr. Sumner. I had never seen Mr. Sumner, but, having
read several of his speeches, I was anxious to see him, and,
looking in the direction from which the voice came, I observed
Dr. Madeira, of Philadelphia, introducing to Mr. Sumner
one of the then editors of the Chambersburg, Pennsylvania,
_Transcript_. Mr. Sumner then shook the person by the hand and
begged him to excuse him, as he was writing on time, that he
might get a number of documents, which he was franking, ready
for the mail, and told the gentleman he would be pleased to see
him at his residence at any time he might call. The gentleman
left him, and I walked to the seat of Senator Seward, which was
vacant, and which is next but one from Senator Sumner’s, in
the same row. Senator Sumner was writing at his seat. On his
table was a large pile of documents, and he was writing very
rapidly, with his head very close to the desk. While he was
thus engaged, I observed a gentleman come in the door and walk
to the seat of Mr. Sumner. He came up in a quiet, easy manner,
and spoke, saying, ‘Mr. Sumner.’ Mr. Sumner did not rise, but
merely turned up his head, as if to see who was speaking to
him, when the gentleman continued, saying, ‘I have read your
speech twice, and have come to the conclusion that it is an
insult to my native State, and my gray-haired relative, Judge
Butler,’--and before he had finished the sentence, he struck
Mr. Sumner a blow on the top of his head, which was uncovered,
which must have stunned him. He struck him two or three times
after, when Mr. Sumner raised himself in his chair, not, as
has been said, to defend himself, but with his head bent down,
as if trying to extricate himself from his chair and desk.
While in this position he received several more blows, when he
fell against his desk, which upset, and he fell to the floor.
While lying here, he was struck until the cane broke into
pieces. _Mr. Sumner uttered no word_, and no one attempted
to interfere, though a number of persons gathered around,
crying, ‘Don’t interfere!‘ ‘Go it, Brooks!’ ‘Give the damned
Abolitionists hell!’ &c. Mr. Crittenden was the first man to
seize the perpetrator of the outrage, and take him off his
victim. Several of his friends led him off, while Mr. Sumner
lay on the floor until Mr. Morgan and Mr. Simonton and one or
two others came in and took him into an adjoining room. I was
the only person who saw the whole of the transaction, and,
being so close to Mr. Sumner, I heard and saw all that was said
and done. I afterwards had Mr. Brooks arrested for the offence,
and on the trial of the case gave my testimony as I have here
related it, and which is substantially correct. I had never
known Mr. Sumner, and, as we belonged to different political
parties, I had no prejudice in his favor. From beginning to
end it was one of the most cold-blooded, high-handed outrages
ever committed, and had Mr. Sumner not been a very large and
powerfully built man, it must have resulted in his death. No
ordinary man could possibly have withstood so many blows upon
his bare head.”
General James Watson Webb, afterwards Minister to Brazil, and at the
time editor of the New York _Courier and Enquirer_, made the following
report to his paper.
“Those who witnessed the assault say, that, in receiving the
blows, given in quick succession and with terrible force, Mr.
Sumner attempted to rise from his seat, to which he was in a
measure pinioned by his legs being under the desk,--the legs of
which, like all the desks of the Senate Chamber, have plates of
iron fastened to them, and these plates are firmly secured to
the floor. His first attempt to rise was a failure, and he fell
back into his chair, and the blows of his assailant continued
to fall mercilessly upon his uncovered head. His second attempt
ripped up the iron fastenings of his desk, and he precipitated
himself forward, but, being blinded and stunned, wide of the
direction in which Mr. Brooks stood. Prostrated on the floor,
and covered with blood as I never saw man covered before,
the assault continued, until Mr. Murray and Mr. Morgan, both
members of the House of Representatives from New York, had time
to come from the extreme southeast angle of the Senate Chamber,
and who, forcing their way through the crowd of Senators, and
others, in the midst of whom Mr. Sumner was lying senseless and
being beaten, they seized the assailant and rescued the body of
Sumner.”
On the morning of January 28, 1857, the country was startled by the
telegraphic news that Mr. Brooks had died suddenly on the evening
before, in great pain, at his hotel in Washington. The terms of this
despatch belong to this note.
“The Hon. Preston S. Brooks died this evening at Brown’s Hotel.
He had been in bed for a day or two, suffering from the effects
of a severe cold. He was telling his friends that he had passed
the crisis of his illness, and felt considerably improved in
health, when he was seized with violent croup, and died in
about ten minutes afterwards. He expired in intense pain.
The event, so sudden, has caused much surprise and sympathy
throughout the city.
“Dr. Boyle, who was called to dress the wounds of Mr. Sumner,
was his physician. Considerable excitement was produced by
this visitation of Providence. His personal friends seem
smitten, while the mass of those who crowd the hotels come to
the general conclusion that the wrath of man is avenged in the
justice of God. There are numerous knots of people in each of
the hotels, talking about the death of Brooks. He died a horrid
death, and suffered intensely. He endeavored to tear his own
throat open to get breath.”
Later advices revealed that Mr. Keitt, with others, was by his bedside.
His death was announced to the House of Representatives, January 29th,
when his funeral took place in the House.
Senator Butler died at home, in South Carolina, May 25, 1857. Mr.
Keitt, after an active and vindictive part in the Rebellion, died in
battle in Virginia, in June, 1864.