Page:Report of Senate Select Committee on the Invasion of Harper's Ferry.pdf/8

8 does not appear that such contributions were made with actual knowledge of the use for which they were designed by Brown, although it does appear that money was freely contributed by those styling themselves friends of this man Brown, and friends alike of what they styled "the cause of freedom," (of which they claimed him to be an especial apostle,) without inquiry as to the way in which the money would be used by him to advance such pretended cause. The evidence fully shows that he had the pikes manufactured in Connecticut especially for this expedition, and certainly they would appear to have been the most formidable weapon which could have been placed in the unskillful hands for which they were intended. For a description of this weapon, and the story told by Brown to the manufacturer when he ordered them, the committee refer to the evidence of the latter. They were sent directly from Connecticut to Brown, under his assumed name of Isaac Smith, first to Chambersburg, in Pennsylvania, there received by some of Brown's men, who were placed there also under assumed names, and by whom they were transported to his abode near Harper's Ferry.

The history of the rifles and pistols is most interesting to this inquiry. It appears from the evidence that, in 1856, these 200 Sharp's carbines had been forwarded by an association in Massachusetts called the "Massachusetts State Kansas Committee," at first to Chicago, on their way to Kansas. At Chicago they were placed under the control of another association, called the "National Kansas Aid Committee." There being some difficulty, from the disordered condition of the country at that time, in getting them to Kansas, they were sent by this last named association into Iowa, where they remained. In January, 1857, it seems there was a meeting of this National Kansas Committee in the city of New York. That committee was constituted of one member from most of the non-slaveholding States. At that meeting John Brown appeared, and made application to have these arms placed in his possession. It would seem that he wanted them, as he expressed it, "for purposes of defense in Kansas;" but as the troubles there were nearly ended, such pretension seems to have been discredited by those to whom it was addressed.

At page 245 of the testimony, a full account of this application for the arms will be found, as given by H. B. Hurd, who was the secretary of the association. He states that, "When Mr. Brown was pressing his claim for the aid desired, I asked him this question: 'If you get the arms and money you desire, will you invade Missouri or any slave Territory?' to which he replied, 'I am no adventurer; you all know me; you are acquainted with my history; you know what I have done in Kansas; I do not expose my plans; no one knows them but myself, except, perhaps, one; I do not wish to be interrogated; if you wish to give me anything, I want you to give it freely; I have no other purpose but to serve the cause of liberty. And he also adds: "Although it had been understood by the members of the committee that Mr. Brown intended to arm one hundred men, to be scattered about in the Territory and to be actual settlers, and engaged in their several pursuits, only to be called out to repel invasion or defend the Kansas free-State settlers, yet this reply was not satisfactory to all, and the arms were voted back to your committee" (meaning the