Page:John Brown (1899).pdf/56

 themselves to anything really revolutionary. One of these men, a refugee from Maryland; named Thomas Thomas, worked for Brown as porter in his wool warehouse. Thomas declares that at the very outset of his employment in the warehouse Brown communicated to him the general features of a scheme to liberate the slaves by force, and asked him to join the enterprise. This was early in 1846. Much doubt has been cast upon the accuracy of Thomas's recollection. But Brown was sometimes unfathomable, and he may have seen something in this negro porter which led him to reveal more of his inner thoughts to him than he had ever revealed to any one else.

I have already mentioned the scheme of Gerrit Smith to give a hundred thousand acres of Adirondack land to negro people who should settle upon and cultivate small farms on the tract. It was a foolish idea; for latitude and alti-