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The Late Recovery of Slaves in Chicago––Statement of their Owner.
ST. LOUIS, August 3, 1859.
Editor of the Chicago Times:
DEAR SIR: I observe from the Chicago papers that considerable excitement has existed in your city, in consequence of my having secretly brought thence my three negro men––fugitives from service and labor....
THE AMERICAN CONVENTION.
The Principle which Governed the Selection of a Ticket --The Canal Question --The Ticket not an American Ticket.
To the Editor of the New York Times:
OUR DETROIT LETTER
Detroit, Mich., Sept. 28, 1859:
A Batch of Runaway Negroes--Excitement in Randolph County, Ill.
THE MISSOURI STAMPEDE. --There are upwards of four hundred slaves leaving Missouri every week, nearly all of whom go south. This movement in the slave market is occasioned partly by the high prices obtained, and partly by causes having no reference to prices. The money market in Missouri, has already received sensible relief from this source.
Slave Insurrection in Virginia
Baltimore, Oct. 17.
A despatch [dispatch] just received here from Frederick, dated this morning, states that an insurrection has broken out at Harper's Ferry, where an armed band of abolitionists had full possession of government arsenal.
The express train going east was twice fired into and one or two hands and a negro killed while they were endeavoring to get the train through the town.
The insurrectionists stopped and arrested two men who had come to town with a load of wheat, and seizing their wagon, and loaded it with rifles and sent them into Maryland. The insurrectionists number about 250 whites and are aided by a band of negroes. At last accounts fighting was going on.
Reported Expressly for the Wilmington Herald
IMPORTANT NEWS.
NEGRO OUTBREAK IN VIRGINIA --ABOLITIONISTS TAMPERING WITH THEM.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18.
Yesterday, at noon, the whole community was astounded at a report, that a band of Abolitionists and Negroes had taken entire possession of the town at Harper's Ferry, including the Armory, Arsenal, Pay Office, and all the other Government property. They cut the telegraph wires, stopped the train with the mails, and imprisoning and pressing into their service all citizen negroes found in the workshops and streets, and killing many.
SERVILE INSURRECTION.
The Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry in Possession of the Insurgents.
GENERAL STAMPEDE OF SLAVES.
United States Troops on their March to the Scene.
Dispatches from our Special Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, Monday, Oct. 17.
The report that negroes have taken possession of Harper's Ferry, and now hold the Government Armory, has created great excitement here. It is said that troops from Fort McHenry, Baltimore, will be dispatched forthwith to the scene of disorder.
FEARFUL AND EXCITING INTELLIGENCE.
NEGRO INSURRECTION AT HARPER'S FERRY.
...It is apprehended that the affair at Harper's Ferry is more serious than our citizens seem willing to believe. The wires from Harper's Ferry are cut, and consequently we have no telegraphic communication beyond Monocacy Station. The Southern train which was here at an early hour this morning has not yet arrived. It is rumored that there is a stampede of negroes from this State...
[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
By Telegraph Last Night.
[We give the following despatches as they have been received during the day. The affair referred to yet lacks a plausible explanation.]
TROUBLE AT HARPER'S FERRY.
Supposed Slave Insurrection.
BALTIMORE, October 18. --A despatch just received here from Frederick, dated this morning, states that an insurrection has broken out at Harper's Ferry, where an armed band of abolitionists have full possession of the government arsenal. The express train going East was twice fired into, and one of the railroad hands and a negro killed while they were endeavoring to get the train through the town.
BY THE UNION LINE.
TO THE DAILY INTELLIGENCER.
OFFICE, CORNER WATER AND MONROE STREETS.
RIOT AT HARPER'S FERRY!
...[THIRD DESPATCH]
It is apprehended that the affair at Harper's Ferry is more serious than the people here are willing to believe. The telegraph wires have been cut from Harper's Ferry, and there is no communication beyond Monocacy. It is reported that there has been a stampede of negroes from Maryland. The train due here early this morning, has not yet arrived. Many wild rumors are afloat, but no intelligence of authentic character has yet been received....
[Editor's Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
Reported Insurrection at Harper's Ferry.
Frederick City and Baltimore dispatches of the 17th give conflicting accounts of an insurrection at Harper's Ferry. One is that an armed band of abolitionists have full possession of the U.S. Arsenal; that an express train had been fired into; that a negro was killed in getting the train through; that a wagon load of rifles had been sent into Maryland; and that a mob led by about 250 whites with a gang of negroes were fighting. The Baltimore dispatch says the affair is greatly exaggerated. The difficulty occured at the armory, and the negroes have nothing to do with it. The train due at Baltimore early in the morning was detained, and many wild rumors were afloat, among others that there had been a stampede of negroes from Maryland.
[Correspondence of the Baltimore Sun.]
WASHINGTON, October 17.
The Harper's Ferry Troubles --Dispatch of Government Troops --The Catholic Church Dedication --Washington's Statue, &c.
BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.
Serious Disturbance at Harper's Ferry.
BALTIMORE, Oct. 17. --The following dispatch has just been received from Frederick; but, as it seems very improbable, it should be received with great caution until confirmed:
FREDERICK, Oct. 17th, a. m. --There is an insurrection at Harper's Ferry. A band of armed Abolitionists have full possession of United States Arsenal. The express train was fired into twice, and one of the railroad hands --a negro --killed while trying to get the train through the town. The insurgents arrested two men who came into town with a load of wheat, took the wagon, loaded it with rifles, and sent them into Maryland. --The band is composed of a gang of about 250 whites, followed by a band of negroes, who are now fighting.
THE ABOLITION OUTBREAK IN VIRGINIA.
The Negro Insurrection at Harper's Ferry.
SEIZURE OF THE ARMORY.
Arrival of Troops from Virginia, Maryland and Washington.
FIGHTING IN THE STREETS.
BATTLE AT THE BRIDGE.
Nine Citizens and Fifteen Insurrectionists Killed and Wounded.
The Insurrectionists Taken in an Engine House.
Attack of the Troops on the Building.
One Marine Mortally and One Slightly Wounded.
Two Insurrectionists Killed and One Seriously Wounded.
Captain John Brown, the Leader, Reported Mortally Wounded.
SKETCH OF HIS CAREER.
Gov. Wise Actively Engaged in Suppressing the Revolt.
Between Thirty and Forty, in all, Killed and Wounded.
THE New York evening papers, received last night, had a good deal to say about the uprising at Harper's Ferry. A special dispatch to the Express, dated Baltimore, Oct. 18th, 12.15 P.M., says that the insurrection is quelled. The strongly fortified house occupied by the insurgents was stormed by the marines under Col. Lee, and carried. The ringleader, Brown, and his son were both shot down in the assaulting charge. Two marines were killed. Four negroes were found in the house who claimed to have been forced into service. There were not over twenty whites in the plot. Mr. Turner, a cadet from West Point, is among the killed. The hostages held by the insurgents were all rescued unharmed. No damage was done to the railroad or the bridge. The object of the movement is claimed to have been the running off of many thousands of slaves into the Free States.
THE INSURRECTION AT HARPER'S FERRY.
STORMING OF THE ARSENAL BY THE MARINES.
FORTIFIED INSURGENTS TAKEN PRISONERS.
FIFTEEN KILLED AND THREE WOUNDED.
HIGHLY INTERESTING DETAILS.
OFFICIAL REPORT OF COLONEL LEE.
LIST OF THE KILLED AND WOUNDED.
The Outbreak Suppressed---Return of the Troops---Various Scenes and Incidents.
...
The First Battle by Tonnage Men.
LATEST by TELEGRAPH.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER, 19, 1859.
Despatches received at the Mercury Office.
The Harper's Ferry Insurrection.
FIRST DESPATCH.
INSURRECTION IN VIRGINIA. --We have accounts of a serious insurrection or riot in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. The city papers of Tuesday contained the following dispatches:
BALTIMORE, Oct. 17, 1859.
THE SERVILE INSURRECTION --The intelligence from Harper's Ferry has created an excitement in our community and throughout the whole length and breadth of the country that has scarcely been equaled by any preceding occurrence of the present century. The palpable absurdity of the whole movement was so apparent to every intelligent mind that few could be found to believe the first rumored accounts received from the seat of the disturbance. Even the northern papers placed no faith in the statement that it was a movement of abolitionists, and cautioned their readers against placing any credence in the alleged motive of the leaders of the outbreak. Nothing but a wild fanaticism, amounting almost to insanity, could account for twenty men combining together in such a fool-hardy enterprise, but it is that species of reckless folly that requires summary justice as a warning to others.
The Disturbances at Harper's Ferry.
BALTIMORE, Oct. 18. --The troops reached Harper's Ferry about daylight, and called upon the insurgents to surrender. This demand was refused, and the marines forced the door under a heavy fire from the insurgents which was returned by the marines, who forced an entrance at the point of the bayonet.
In a few moments the conflict was over. All the living insurgents were captured. The volunteers tried to shoot them. Ossawatomie Brown, of Kansas notoriety, with his son, were both shot, the latter dead, and the former dying. He talks freely, and says the whole object was to free the slaves.
Anderson, of Connecticut, another of the leaders, is killed. Three marines and several State troops were shot.
Among those murdered by the insurgents are several of the first men of that section of the State.
NEGRO INSURRECTION IN VIRGINIA.
NEGROES AND ABOLITIONISTS IN ARMS.
Stampede of Maryland Slaves.
SEIZURE OF THE ARSENAL!...
[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
INSURRECTION AT HARPER'S FERRY --
Insurrectionists in Possession of
the U.S. Arsenal --Express Train
Fired Into.
...One of the rioters now dying has confessed the whole plot. He says Brown was the originator, and promised his followers that the negroes in Virginia and Maryland would rise by thousands and both States would be made free. Large numbers of slaves are said to have gone towards Pennsylvania....
...BALTIMORE, 1 o'clock... The Southern train, which was due here at an early hour this morning, has not yet arrived.––It is rumored there is a stampede of negroes from this State. There are many other wild rumors, but nothing authentic as yet....
Servile Insurrection in Virginia.
STAMPEDE OF SLAVES!
The Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry in Possession of the Insurgents.
Storming of the Arsenal by United States
Troops, Ossawatomie brown Leading the Rebels....
[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
THE SERVILE INSURRECTION --The intelligence from Harper's Ferry has created an excitement in our community and throughout the whole length and breadth of the country that has scarcely been equaled by any preceding occurrence of the present century. The palpable absurdity of the whole movement was so apparent to every intelligent mind that few could be found to believe the first rumored accounts received from the seat of the disturbance. Even the northern papers placed no faith in the statement that it was a movement of abolitionists, and cautioned their readers against placing any credence in the alleged motive of the leaders of the outbreak. Nothing but a wild fanaticism, amounting almost to insanity, could account for twenty men combining together in such a fool-hardy enterprise, but it is that species of reckless folly that requires summary justice as a warning to others.
From the N.Y. Tribune
The insurrection, so called, at Harper's Ferry, proves a verity. Old Brown of Osawatomie, who was last heard of on his way from Missouri to Canada with a band of runaway slaves, now turns up in Virginia, where he seems to have been for some months plotting and preparing for a general stampede of slaves. How he came to be in Harper's Ferry, and in possession of the U.S. Armory, is not yet clear; but he was probably betrayed or exposed, and seized the Armory as a place of security until he could safely get away. The whole affair seems the work of a madman; but John Brown has so often looked death serenely in the face, that what seems madness to others doubtless wore a different aspect to him....
THE EMEUTE AT HARPER'S FERRY.
This affair, which the papers excitedly call an insurrection, has startled the public mind, from the character of the occurrence itself, and the confused details that have reached the press. It seems to have been at the outset, an attempt to procure a large stampede of slaves, and to have grown, by force of circumstances, into an invasion of these United States and of the commonwealth of Virginia. From the mass of details, we strive to present our readers with a succinct narrative of the facts....
[Editor's Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
THE EMEUTE AT HARPER'S FERRY.
This affair, which the papers excitedly call an insurrection, has startled the public mind, from the character of the occurrence itself, and the confused details that have reached the press. It seems to have been at the outset, an attempt to procure a large stampede of slaves, and to have grown, by force of circumstances, into an invasion of these United States and of the commonwealth of Virginia. From the mass of details, we strive to present our readers with a succinct narrative of the facts....
[Editor's Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
THE LATE INSURRECTION.
THE CITIZENS OF HARPER'S FERRY.
THE WOUNDED DORSEY,
We have very little additional from the seat of the late insurrectionary movement, at Harper's Ferry. A letter received by us last evening, from a respectable citizen of that place, states, as a fact, that which has certainly not heretofore been made clearly to appear --that is, the extent of the defense, with its results, made by the citizens at Harper's Ferry against the insurgents, before the arrival of troops from abroad. As he thinks injustice has been done them in this matter, we give his letter, as follows:
HARPER'S FERRY, Va., Oct. 21st, 1859.
Previous Insurrections.
[From the N.Y. Evening Post.]
The John Brown Rebellion. --Brown and four of his associates are in jail at Charlestown, with an extraordinary guard of eighty Virginian troops and yet so great is their estimation of Brown's valor, they fear he will escape in spite of all precautions. Gov Wise called him "the greatest man he ever saw." The prisoners will be indicted for treason, murder and inciting the slaves to insurrection. The only citizens killed at Harper's Ferry were Turner, Beckham and Bourley, besides the negro Heywood, and private Irvin of the U.S. marines.
The Baltimore papers publish extensive extracts from a journal kept by Jason, one of John Brown's sons, in 1857, but it throws no light on the Harper's Ferry affair nor anything else. Why don't they publish the letters implicating prominent northern politicians? The people are curious to see them.
The Insurrection in Virginia.
...It now appears that the plan was concocted and executed under the lead of Osawatogie [Osawatomie] Brown, of Kansas infamy, accompanied by a set of fanatical Abolitionists from Ohio, Connecticut, and Maine. About one year ago, Brown, under the name of Smith, hired a farm in the vicinity, where the gang rendezvoused. Their object apparently was to procure arms and money from the armory, and induce a general stampede of the slaves in that section of the country....
[Editor's Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant]
INSURRECTION IN VIRGINIA.
The daily papers last week were filled with telegraphic dispatches of an insurrection at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. It is somewhat difficult to get a full and clear understanding of the affair. The gist of it seems, however, to be this: --Capt. John Brown, of Kansas notoriety, who was last heard of on his way from Missouri to Canada with a band of runaway slaves, now turns up as the leader of the insurrection of a few infatuated whites and deluded negroes at Harper's Ferry, where he seems to have been for some months plotting and preparing for a general stampede of slaves....
[Editor's Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
On our first page will be found some interesting details of the Abolition outrage at Harper's Ferry, a brief account of which was published last week. Further developments show that Brown had the sympathy and assistance from Abolitionists in various parts in the North. Letters and other papers from Gerritt Smith and others, have been discovered, and a printed document described as "The Constitution of the Provisional Government. This is the key and clue to the entire project. The Federal Government, it seems, was not to be overthrown; State authorities were to be left in formal possession of sovereignty; but supreme over all was to be John Brown, Commander-in Chief, under the Provisional arrangement, who was to range the Union at the head of his parti-colored troops, redressing wrongs and liberating the enslaved; advising, as circumstances demanded, with a Provisional House of Representatives, established for that purpose somewhere in West Virginia.
Brown's Correspondence.
New York. Oct. 27.
The Herald publishes a series of letters from Colonel Forbes, the author of the Instruction Books for Guerrilla warfare found at Brown's house, to various Republicans principally to F. B. Sanborn, Secretary of Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society and Dr. S. G. Hone of Boston. One letter, addressed to the latter, dated May 1858, is prefaced by the following memorandum: "Please show to Messrs Sanborn Lawrence Co."
...Capt. Brown, of Kansas notoriety, under the assumed name of Bill Smith, was one of the leaders....
...It now appears that the plan was concocted and executed under the lead of Ossawatomie Brown, of Kansas infamy, accompanied by a set of fanatical Abolitionists from Ohio, Connecticut and Maine. About one year ago, Brown, under the name of Smith, hired a farm in the vicinity, where the gang rendezvoused.
Their object apparently was to procure arms and money from the armory, and induce a general stampede of the slaves in that section of country....
[Editor's Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant]
The Plan of Insurrectionists.
New York, October 27.
The Herald publishes a series of letters of Col. Forbes's, the author of the instruction books for a guerrilla warfare, found at Brown's house, to various Republicans, principally to F. B. Sanborn, Secretary of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society, and Dr. S. G. Howe, of Boston. One letter addressed to the latter, dated May, 1858, is prefaced by the following memorandum: "Please show to Messrs. Sanborn, Lawrence and Co. Copies will be sent to Gov. Chase, who found money, and Gov. Fletcher, who contributed arms, and to others interested, as quickly as possible."
The New York Evening Post, thus replies to the incendiary ravings of the Douglass organ at Washington, which basely attempts to make political capital by charging that the Republicans are accountable for the late outbreak at Harper's Ferry, and makes the silly assertion that the Demonstration by Brown and his handfull of deluded followers is "the most alarming and daring insurrection --dry demonstration that has ever been made the United States." Says the Post:
WHAT THE DIFFERENT PLANS PROPOSED WERE.
...Mine was as follows: With carefully selected colored and white persons to organize along the Northern slave frontier (Virginia and Maryland especially) a series of stampedes of slaves, each one of which operations would carry off in one night, and from the same place, some twenty to fifty slaves; this to be effected once or twice a month, and eventually once or twice a week along non-contiguous parts of the line; if possible without conflict, only resorting to force if attacked. Slave women, accustomed to field labor, would be nearly as useful as men. Everything being in readiness to pass on the fugitives, they could be sent with such speed to Canada that pursuit would be hopeless....
THE HARPER'S FERRY CONSPIRACY AND ITS CONCOCTORS.
...Forbes' plan was to organize a series of stampedes of slaves, fifty at a time, and run them off to Canada. Any disaster which would happen a single stampede would compromise those only who are engaged in it. Brown proposed to invite the slaves to rise. He argued that were he pressed by the United States troops, which after a few days might concentrate, he could easily maintain himself in the Alleghanies, and that his New England partisans would, in the meantime, call a Northern Convention to restore tranquility and overthrow the pro-slavery administration....
[Editor's Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
The Increase of Negroes. The Position of the Wheeling Intelligencer.
[From the New York Post, of yesterday.]
Among the mad vociferations of the southern papers, --while some, like the Charleston Courier and the Savannah Republican, cry out for the instant extinction of Brown, and others talk absurdly of demanding the surrender of his presumed accomplices from the executives of the northern states --there is one Virginia editor, at least, who is disposed to keep hold of his wits in the flurry, and to inquire whether late incidents may not have more than one import. We refer to the Wheeling Intelligencer, whose disquisition is copied into another part of this sheet.
TELEGRAPHIC.
Reported for the Daily Pantagraph, by the Illinois and Miss. Line
OFFICE, PHOENIX BLOCK --MAT. L. STEELE, OPERATOR.
...The [a ?] letter gives the plans of Forbes and Brown for an insurrection. Forbes' plan, with careful selecting colored and white persons to organize along the northern slave frontier, Virginia and Maryland especially, a series of stampedes of slaves, each one of which operations would carry off in one night and from the same place, some twenty to fifty slaves; this to be effected once or twice a month, and eventually once or twice a week along non-contiguous parts of the line, if possible without conflict, only resorting to force if attacked....
STAMPEDE OF SLAVES FRUSTRATED. --The Towsontown Md., Advocate, has the following: --
"We understand on Saturday night that a band of some forty slaves was to have congregated at Dr. Butler's place, near Finksburg, in Carroll Co., Md., but one of them disclosing the secret, the plan was frustrated and five of them arrested and placed in Westminster jail."
The above is confirmed by the Westminster Sentinel, which states that "the slaves belonged to Dr. Butler, George Jacobs, and Hanson T. Bartholow. Horses and carriages were in waiting when the discovery was made. The Sentinel adds that they were all arrested, and that unknown parties were concerned in the attempted stampede."
BROWN'S PRE-ARRANGED PLAN.
Among the letters of Col. Hugh Forbes, just put forth, exposing a fore-knowledge by leading republican Senators and others of the long mediated insurrection of old Brown at Harper's Ferry, is one dated at Washington, D. C., May 14, 1859, and addressed to S. G. Howe, Boston. This letter gives his own and Brown's plans of operating on the Southern States. Forbes' plan was to organize along the Southern slave frontier a series of slave stampedes. But the following is more to the point:
BROWN'S PLAN.
Brown had a different scheme. He proposed, with some twenty-five to fifty (colored and white mixed,) well armed, and bringing a quantity of spare arms, to beat up a slave quarter in Virginia....
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
A STAMPEDE. --We learn that on Saturday night last some thirty slaves in all ran off from their homes in Alexandria and Fairfax Counties, Va., near this city. Six were the property of the Rev. Mr. Lippett, of the Episcopal Church, and one of the David Fitzhugh, Esq. Some of them are said to be the property of the estate of the late Commodore Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, and two other gentlemen in the same neighborhood, whose names we have not yet learned. --Washington States.
Exciting Dispatches.
...THIRD DISPATCH
...The telegraph wires have been cut from Harper's Ferry, and there is no communication beyond Monocacy. It is reported that there has been a stampede of negroes from Maryland. The train due here early this morning has not yet arrived. Many wild rumors are afloat, but no intelligence of an authentic character has yet been received....
[Editor's Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
Filibustering, Slave Stealing, and Insurrection.
Brown's Pre-Arranged Plan.
Among the letters of Col. Hugh Forbes, just put forth, exposing a fore-knowledge by leading republican Senators and others of the long mediated insurrection of old Brown at Harper's Ferry, is one dated at Washington, D. C., May 14, 1858, and addressed to S. G. Howe, Boston. This letter gives his own and Brown's plans of operating on the Southern States. Forbes' plan was to organize along the Southern slave frontier, a series of slave stampedes. But the following is more to the point:
The Difference.
When Old Brown, in a fit of madness, calls about him a band of twenty-two men as crazy as himself, and endeavors to stampede slaves from the borders of Virginia, and in the course of the transaction two or three persons are killed, contrary to the intentions and orders of Brown,which were that life and property should be spared, --he is seized and placed upon hasty trial for his life. His acts meanwhile are openly condemned by the Republican party throughout the North. But when the Border Ruffians invaded Kansas and slaughtered her inhabitants in cold blood and sacked her towns and settlements, the marauders were rewarded with fat appointments and became pets of the Federal Government. What we have stated are historical facts. A number of instances are enumerated by the Albany Evening Journal which attests what we have said: