these are murderers, they have committed murder in their hearts.'
Ere many nights were passed eight men were requisitioned from the
camp. They stole forth armed with short cutlasses, and next
morning the ghastly news spread abroad that five corpses had been
found by that creek. John Brown, jun., said, 'The only statement
that I ever heard my father make in regard to this was "I did not
myself kill any of those men at Pottawatomie, but I am as fully
responsible as if I did."' It was a terrible act; we cannot
wonder that it came as a great shock to many who had the cause of
liberty at heart, but when questioned about it the old man was
always reticent, and would only say, 'God is my Judge.'

The result was unmistakable. From that moment John Brown's name
became a terror to the evildoers of that quarter. The free
settlers felt there was another fate than extermination for them,
and the impotent administration at Washington first began to see
that this hitherto submissive majority of free settlers must be
reckoned with. A writer said years after, 'It was like a clap of
thunder from a clear sky.' There are acts that can only be
morally estimated by a careful consideration of the prevailing
circumstances, and in this case they are such as we, well housed
and protected folk, thank God, know not. Those who knew this man
through and through were swift to testify, 'Whatever may be
thought of John Brown's acts, John Brown himself was right.' No
personal end had he to serve; his harvest was privation,
suffering, death. He had no personal vengeance to wreak, and
when revengeful words were spoken in his hearing he soon lifted
the conversation to a sublime level.

'That,' said he, 'is not a Christian spirit. If I thought I had