Page:Report of Senate Select Committee on the Invasion of Harper's Ferry.pdf/73



5, 1860.

sworn and examined.

By the :

Question. Will you please to state your age, and where you reside?

Answer. I was fifty-four years old last fall. I reside about a mile from Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in Washington county, Maryland.

Question. Were you acquintedacquainted [sic] with the late John Brown, who was executed, by sentence of the law, in Jefferson county, Virginia, in December last?

Answer. I had been acquainted with him since the 4th day of July, on which day I became acquainted with him, but by the name of Smith. He informed me that his name was Smith.

Question. State the circumstances under which you made his acquaintance; and when, and where?

Answer. It was about two thirds of a mile from Harper's Ferry, Virginia, on the edge of the mountain, in Maryland, on the 4th day of July last, between eight and nine o'clock. I was going to Harper's Ferry, and met him there and saluted him, saying, "Good morning, gentlemen; how do you do?" There were four of them together; his two sons, Watson and Oliver—he told me their names—and a Mr. Anderson.

Question. State whether he told you his name, and what name he gave?

Answer. I said, "Well, gentlemen," after saluting them in that form, "I suppose you are out hunting mineral, gold, and silver?" His answer was, "No, we are not, we are out looking for land; we want to buy land; we have a little money, but we want to make it go as far as we can." He asked me the price of land. I told him that it ranged from fifteen dollars to thirty dollars in the neighborhood. He remarked, "That is high; I thought I could buy land here for about a dollar or two dollars per acre." I remarked to him, "No, sir; if you expect to get land for that price, you will have to go further west, to Kansas, or some of those Territories where there is government land"—"Congress land" perhaps I said.  1