Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/553



Chatham, Canada, where a convention was held to organize a provisional government. John Brown was elected Commander-in-chief; J. H. Kagi, Secretary of War; Richard Realf, Secretary of State; and George B. Gill, Secretary of the Treasury. In the meantime Forbes had, in letters to prominent men and public officials, divulged some information as to Brown’s plans and it was decided to postpone the enterprise for a time. The men separated, some going to Kansas, while Cook went to Harper’s Ferry and carefully made observations that would be of service when the time came for action. John Brown again went to Kansas, where he was joined by Stevens, Kagi, Tidd, Gill, Jeremiah G. Anderson and Albert Hazlett.

In December, under the leadership of Brown, they crossed into Missouri to liberate slaves who were to be sold and their families separated. They took twelve slaves, horses, wagons, cattle and other property to which Brown claimed the slaves were entitled, for years of unpaid labor. One slaveholder who resisted was killed by Stevens. Large rewards were offered by the Governor of Missouri for the arrest of Brown and his men and the recovery of the slaves. Early in January, Brown and several members of his party began the journey with the slaves in wagons, by way of Nebraska and Iowa, to Canada. They reached Tabor, in Iowa, on the 5th of February, 1859, where they remained until the 11th. The citizens of Tabor had become alarmed at Brown’s invasion of Missouri and forcible liberation of slaves, fearing retaliation from the Missourians, as they were near the State line. To relieve themselves from the charge of complicity with Brown, the citizens held a public meeting and passed resolutions, condemning the acts of him and his followers but no attempt was made to arrest them. On the eleventh the slaves were conveyed on their journey, guarded by their well armed liberators, along the line of the “Underground Railroad.” On the Thirteenth they stayed with Lewis Mills, on the Fifteenth with Mr. Murray, on the