Abraham Lincoln . wenty-seven, seizedeleven of the men who had taken farms in the valley of Marias-des-Cygnes. Make ready ! Take aim! Fire! the word of command. Therifles and revolvers flashed, and all but one Avere killed or murderers fired once more, riddling the bodies with bullets, andthen rode back to Missouri to gloat over the mornings work. Itwas their way of upsetting the popular sovereignty of Senator Douglas—their way of interpreting the meaning of the Constitution — theirmethod of carrying slavery into Kansas. The people of the Northern States were horrified when they he
Abraham Lincoln . wenty-seven, seizedeleven of the men who had taken farms in the valley of Marias-des-Cygnes. Make ready ! Take aim! Fire! the word of command. Therifles and revolvers flashed, and all but one Avere killed or murderers fired once more, riddling the bodies with bullets, andthen rode back to Missouri to gloat over the mornings work. Itwas their way of upsetting the popular sovereignty of Senator Douglas—their way of interpreting the meaning of the Constitution — theirmethod of carrying slavery into Kansas. The people of the Northern States were horrified when they heardof the cold-blooded massacre, and the peaceful Quaker poet, John , far away on the banks of the Merrimac, in Massachusetts,wrote these lines: A blush as of roses, Where roses never grew ;Great drops on the bunch-grass, But not of the dew ;A taint in the sw^eet air For wild bees to shun ;A stain that shall neverBleacli out with the sun. Into Missouri with a company of men marched John Brown, not to. HOKACE GKEELEY. KANSAS-NEBRASKA STRUGGLE. 101 commit murder, but with a far different object in view. Tlie SupremoCourt had decided that under the Constitution slavery might be estab-lished in Kansas. ]\[issourians were determined to force it upon theTerritory. He woukl let the ruffians know that slaves had legs andcould run away. He found fourteen who were ready to be free started with them, bound for Iowa. Three thousand dollars rewaidfor the arrest of John Brown! read the proclamation of the Governorof Missouri. Two hundred and fifty dollars reward! read the proclamation ofJames Buchanan. President of the United States. The Marshal of .Missouri with a posse of men surrounded the log-cabin occu])ied by Brown and his company. ])ut the muz/les of riflesprojected from the crevices between the logs. • Come on, gentlemen, if you wish to. It was a pleasant voice,with no bravado in the tones. But three thousand two hundred and fifty dollars was no tempta-tion to
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