Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/714

 not come contributing provisions, wagons, etc. Provisions were deposited fot those who were expected to come to Lawrence, in the house of "William Lykins, and were distributed among the Missourians after they arrived there. The evening before and the morning of the day of election, about 1,000 men from the above counties arrived at Lawrence, and encamped in a ravine a short distance from town, near the place of voting. They came in wagons—of which there were over one hundred—and on horseback, under the command of Col. Samuel Young, of Boone county, Missouri, and Claibourne F. Jackson, of Missouri. They were armed with guns, rifles, pistols, and bowie-knives, and had tents, music, and flags with them. They brought with them two pieces of artillery loaded with musket-balls. On their way to Lawrence, some of them met Mr. N. B. Blauton, who had been appointed one of the judges of election by Gov. Reeder, and after learning from him that he considered it his duty to demand an oath from them as to their place of residence, first attempted to bribe, and then threatened him with hanging, in order to induce him to dispense with that oath. In consequence of these threats, he did not appear at the polls the next morning to act as judge.

The evening before the election, while in camp, the Missourians were called together at the tent of Captain Claibourne F. Jackson, and speeches were made to them by Col. Young and others, calling for volunteers to go to other districts where there were not Missourians enough to control the election, and there were more at Lawrence than were needed there. Many volunteered to go, and the morning of the election, several companies, from 150 to 200 men each, went off to Tecumseh, Hickory Point, Bloomington, and other places. On the morning of the election, the Missourians came over to the place of voting from their camp, in bodies of one hundred at a time. Mr. Blanton not appearing, another judge was appointed in his place—Col. Young claiming that, as the people of the territory had two judges, it was nothing more than right that the Missourians should have the other one, to look after their interests; and Robert E. Cummins was elected in Blanton's stead, because he considered that every man had a right to vote if he had been in the territory but an hour. The Missourians brought their tickets with them; but not having enough, they had three hundred more printed in Lawrence on the evening before and the day of election. They had white ribbons in their button-holes to distinguish themselves from the settlers.

When the voting commenced, the question of the legality of the vote of a Mr. Page was raised. Before it was decided, Col. Samuel Young stepped up to the window where the votes were received, and said he would settle the matter. The vote of Mr. Page was withdrawn, and Col. Young offered to vote. He refused to take the oath prescribed by the governor, but swore he was a resident of the territory, upon which his vote was received. He told Mr. Abbott, one of the judges, when asked if he intended to make Kansas his future home, that it was none of his business; that if he were a resident then, he should ask no more. After his vote was received, Col. Young got up in the window-sill and announced to the crowd that he had been permitted to vote,