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 56o W. H. Iscly money for the purchase of twenty-three Sharps rifles, he himself contributing ten of this number.' The minutes- of the executive committee of the free-state party at Lawrence reveal still further activity by Thayer in this business. But it is impossible to catalogue all the arms furnished directly or indirectly by the directors of the Emigrant Aid Company. Enough has been given to show the great activity of the members of this organization and the large scale on which arms were furnished to the free-state people. Through the efforts of Thayer a Connecticut Kansas colony was organized in New Haven, including many Yale graduates; and it started west on March 31, 1856. A few days before, a farewell ser- vice was held in North Church, Henry Ward Beecher delivering the address. Professor Benjamin Silliman presided at this meeting, and at its conclusion stated that no provision had been made for properly equipping the party with arms : he therefore appealed to the audi- ence to provide fifty rifles. Beecher promptly responded, agreeing to give $625, which would pay for half the number, if the other half should be given by those present.^ The full amount was soon secured. On the following day the senior class of Yale College pur- chased an extra rifle for Hon. C. B. Lines, the leader of the party. On the day of departure Beecher was again present and presented each man in the company with a Bible and a Sharps rifle. " We gratefully accept the bibles," said the leader of the colony, " as the only sure foundation on which to erect free institutions. . . . We . . . accept the weapons also, and, like our fathers, we go with the bible to indicate the peaceful nature of our mission and the harmless character of our company, and a weapon to teach those who may he disposed to molest us (if any such there be) that while we determine to do that which is right we will not submit tamely to that which is wrong." " We will not forget you," said [Mr.] Beecher. ..." Every morning breeze shall catch the blessings of our prayers and roll them westward to your prairie home."* The combined stupidity and criminality of Pierce, in permitting the sacking of Lawrence and the wide-spread reign of murder and pillage in the territory, created a passionate feeling of indignation throughout the North. The ashes of Lawrence, the outpost of free- dom, and the blood of the fallen in Kansas must be avenged. " Money, Sharps rifles, recruits ", was the angry cry. The New York Tribune, on the suggestion of a subscriber, announced that it would receive one-dollar subscriptions for Kansas relief; in a very 'Eli Thayer, A History of the Kansas Crusade (New York, 1S89), p. i;6; New York Tribune, February 15, 1856. ' Transactions of the Kansas Historical Society, VII. 525. ° deed, The Kansas Memorial, p. 122. •■Spring, Kansas, p. 165.