1858.] BRAVE FATHER AND BRAVE SON. 117 Snyder successfully repelled them. Hamilton and six of his band rode up to the blacksmith shop in which Snyder was working and shouted: 'Hallo, there!' Snyder, who had acquired considerable repute for fearlessness, stepped out of doors to find himself confronted by seven armed men. 'Now, by G—, sir,' exclaimed Hamilton, 'you are my prisoner l' Snyder, if unlike the historic Pickens of South Carolina, born insensible to fear, was at least difficult to intimidate. He replied: 'Not yet!' Then springing back into the shop he seized a shot gun, and ordered his boy of seventeen to run to the house after his gun. The dwelling was several rods distant, up a steep bank, entirely open to the fire of the ruffians. The son replied: 'Why, father, they will kill me.' 'Don't be afraid; I'll protect you.' The young Vulcan started on a brisk run. เ 'Stop!' commanded Hamilton, ' or we'll shoot you down in your tracks.' 'Go on!' thundered the father, with his gun pointing at them; 'I'll kill the first man who takes aim at you.' Snyder was so prompt that not one of the band raised his rifle till the boy had reached the house; then Hamilton suddenly fired at Snyder but overshot. The dauntless blacksmith immediately replied with his gun but Hamilton dropped unharmed behind his horse, though the animal fell dead. Snyder flew back into the shop, reloaded and fired, wounding one of the assailants, who now began to retreat; then he also ran for the house. Several shots were fired after him and one took effect in his hip. He dropped behind the fence and reloaded, while the ruffians, supposing him disabled, once more approached. He unexpectedly rose up and again fired among them. By this time the boy came out with his gun, and both father and son took shelter in a little grove near by and continued to fire briskly. Like all men who despise their lives they proved masters of the situation, and the baffled and exasperated murderers retired to join their companions. 118 A MOST INHUMAN MASSACRE. [1858. The eleven captives already collected were taken into a deep ravine and formed into a line a few yards in front of the horse. men. Hamilton briefly gave the commands: 'Present arms. Fire.' Twenty-five rifles and revolvers answered. Every prisoner fell, Four were killed and all but one of the rest wounded. The mur derers slowly galloped away but in a few moments three returning kicked and rolled over the bodies to see if they were dead. As one appeared only slightly wounded, one of the miscreants placed his revolver to his ear and fired remarking: 'I have always found this a certain shot.' The ruffians then departed leaving five men dead, and six lying beside them in extremest terror. Of the killed all were estimable citizens and all but one married. One of the survivors was not wounded but shrewdly fell with the rest, and thus escaped. The massacre, unparalleled upon American soil, sent a shudder of horror through the North. A few partisans sought to palliate it on the ground that Pro-slavery settlers also had been brutally murdered; but Hamilton and his men bearing the brand of Cain, became fugitives and vagabonds upon the earth. Whittier's muse, never silent when freedom was wounded, sent forth the strain: LE MARAIS DU CYGNE. A blush as of roses Where rose never grew;- Bleach out in the sun From the hearths of their cabins, 120 A PARTY OF PEACE MAKERS. [1858 CHAPTER X. THE Marais des Cygnes massacre re-lighted the flames of civil war in Linn, Lykins, (now Miami,) and Bourbon, all southeastern counties of Kansas, bordering upon Missouri. In Linn, James Montgomery, a Free State guerrilla leader with many adherents, drove out every obnoxious Pro-slavery settler. Several times he crossed the line into Bourbon, and attacked Fort Scott, the county seat. This Border Ruffian stronghold (Bourbon had not yet been reclaimed to Free State rule) contained the United States land office and was defended by Federal troops. Twice the soldiers endeavored to arrest Montgomery; but he sturdily resisted and put them to flight. All along the border there was no safety for life or property except in the strong arm of violence; and at the distance of fifty miles it was difficult to determine whether Montgomery's men were defending their hearths and making legitimate reprisals or shedding blood wantonly. Governor Denver and one of his aids on behalf of the Proslavery party, accompanied by Governor Robinson, Judge John W. Wright and other prominent Free State citizens, made a tour through the disturbed regions endeavoring to promote peace. With Lewis N. Tappan, Edmund Babb, and other correspondents, I accompanied these peace commissioners. June 9.-Left Lawrence in a drenching rain, riding over a great expanse of green, smiling with countless flowers. Little mounds, five or six inches high, abound, thrown up by the gopher in dig ging his hole. The rosin-weed or compass-plant is also plentiful, its leaves always pointing north and south. Both the mounds and the plant are unfailing indications of rich soil. Beyond the Waukarusa we found one solitary 'black-jack' (oak.) |