Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/879

 company, and all appeared to be arranged on a system. The paucity of number seventeen white men and four negroes, being all the force that Brown had in the field, in view of the vast results which he contemplated, will ever leave the impression upon the public mind that the leader and the head of the insurrection must have been deranged.

In the terrible struggle accompanying the storming of the engine house, the most of Brown's followers were killed. The prisoners, after a short time, were passed over to the State authorities, and were removed to the jail at Charleston, the county seat of Jefferson county, in which Harper's Ferry is situated. They were accompanied by a large body of State troops. As rumors and fears of a rescue were prevalent, Governor Wise took active and efficient steps to collect a large force at Charleston. The jail was guarded in the most cautious and thorough manner, and all the avenues of approach were carefully watched. Sentinels were posted in every direction, and for weeks the town was a camp, and the people were placed under martial law.

On the 26th October, the grand jury found bills of indictment against Brown and the rest of the prisoners, charging them with treason, murder and inciting slaves to insurrection. A strong effort was made to get the trials postponed, on account of the physical condition of Brown. His wounds, though numerous and severe, did not prove dangerous, and there was a fair prospect of his recovery, but he was then weak from loss of blood, and from his wounds unable to stand. The public mind was so much excited that it was evident that a fair, impartial trial could not be obtained. Counsel for the prisoners from the North was also desirable, and these several reasons were urged to the Court. But the state of feeling throughout the entire South was such that no delay could be tolerated, and the parties were forced to trial. John Brown was first arraigned. He was brought into Court on his cot; the indictment was read to him, and he entered the plea of "Not guilty." Messrs. Green and Botts, attorneys of that county, were assigned to the defense, and entered upon its duties. The trial proceeded with as much fairness as could be expected under the circumstances, and in due time a verdict of "guilty," on all the counts of the indictment, was rendered. Motions in arrest of judgment were made by the attorneys for the defense, and were elaborately argued, but were all overruled by the Court, and on the 2d day of November Brown was brought in to receive his sentence.

The scene was one of extraordinary interest. The Clerk asked Brown if he had anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced. Brown stood up, and in a clear and distinct tone, said:

"I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, the design on my part to free the slaves. I intended certainly to have made as clean a thing of that matter as I did last winter, when I went into Missouri, and took the slaves without the snapping of a gun, and moved them through the country, finally