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Show THE BULLETIN Equally interesting is anaccount. other This is contained in a letter written on the day of the execution by an officer, on duty with the Virginia Military Institute cadets, to his wife in Lexington, Va. It was printed many years later in the January 31, 1934, issue of the Lexington Gazette. It says in eye-witne- Four Score Years Have Passed Since John Brown Died on the Scaffold But His Renown "Goes Marching On" ss ADVENTURERS' CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURS ELFI part: By ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) four score years the of John Brown has "moldering in its but his fame "goes grave" on." The fires of marching the Civil war have long since died down but the song which once fanned its flames is still being sung by a generation of Americans to whom the story of this "martyr" (or "fanatic") is but a legend. They can, however, obtain a little clearer picture of jwhat manner of man he was 'and why he was instrumental jin setting millions of Americans at each other's throats .if they read a book published recently by the Kansas Magazine Publishing company of Manhattan, Kan. Last year 'Kirke Mechem, secretary of the Kansas State Historical society wrote a play about John Brown. It won the 1938 Maxwell Anderson Award of Stanford university. It was published as a book on October 16 of this year the anniversary of John Brown's famous raid on Harper's Ferry. As December 2, 1939, approaches, it is appropriate to turn to the last two pages of this book and read there FOR dimly-remember- ed I THE EXECUTION OF JOHN BROWN NEAR CHARLESTOWN, (From an Illustration In Leslie's Weekly, Dee. 17, 1859.) Confederate toldien enuring and ra erouing, and the music of "John Brotcn't Body" accompanying them. Brown' voice, pronouncing the name of the battle when the toldien appear, (lowly fade a the music increase in vohimej Brown Manassas. Shiloh. Gettysburg. Vicksburg. Chickamau-g- a. Lookout Mountain. Wilderness CURTAIN Thus the version of the historic event which took place on that December day 80 years ago. For the version of an eyewitness, turn now to the July, 1921, issue of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical ACT THREE Quarterly and in it read Scene III "John Brown at Harper's SCENE: A kill overlooking a valA and Charlestown ley, December 2, 1859. At first dark, Ferry S. Donovan." K. Lecture by it slowly become lighter until the figures of Kagi and Olivtr arc vitibla, In 1859 Donovan, who later became editor of the Columalthough indefinite. (Note: John Henry Kagl. Brown'! bus (Ohio) Times and a conchief lieutenant, and hit youngest son, tributor to the Cincinnati EnOliver, were killed during the fighting at Harper! Ferry.) quirer, was a reporter for the Baltimore (Md.) Daily ExOliver Kagi! I gee the scaffold. change. He was the first Kagl Yea, Oliver. newspaper correspondent on Oliver But we are dead! the ground after John Brown's Kagi Yeg. Oliver But why are we so dim? Kagi Because our spirits were poet-dramatis- t's raid on Harper's Ferry be- gan. He interviewed Brown dim.- - Oliver Spirits? Ghosts, Kagi? Kagi Not heavenly ghosts or spirits, Oliver. But now we live within the minds of men. You are the Oliver the world - , remembers. I am Kagl, living as a spirit In men's remembrance. Oliver Then as the world remembers us we live I Kagi Not by our earthly bodies, And Oliver. No, for most strangely, in the . ' same degree That men renounce their ies do their spirits Seem to have earthly life. bod- As we renounced ours, Oliver . then we live? Kagi Yes; somewhat dimly. Our renunciation Was a little under protest Oliver All the great spirits have renounced themselves. Kagi If not renounced, transcended, Oliver. Oliver Kagi! They're on the gallows! Kagl Yes, so they are. Oliver Kagi, Kagi!. They're hanging him! ' Kagi Yes, Oliver, they think they're hanging him. They have a scaffold and they have his body. Yes, now They hang him! Now, John Brown is dead! That fierce and passionate body, there it hangs! They've strung him up between the earth and Heaven! John Brown is dead! Now cut his body down. Now, bury him. You cannot bury him! He stands colossal on the bloodstained sod! He springs a hundred-fol- d Oliver Kagi! Look! Rising from the scaffold! All white and shining! Kagi That is his spirit, Oliver! 01iver-Whthat? .. . at's (There it a tound of a ditlant cannon, then another.) Kagi A cannon in the distance. Oliver He's moving! Someone is VA. one side and Jailer Avis on the other stepped from the Jail. Unaided Captain Brown got into the wagon and took a seat on a box which contained his coffin. Jailer Avis sat at his side. On the driver's seat sat George W. Sadler, Massachusetts man, resident of Charlestown, who thought it necessary that he should drive John Brown to his death, that he might attest his loyalty to southern institutions. The Charlestown cadets, under command of Capt W. W. Gallagher, formed around the wagon, and preceded by military and followed by military the line of march was taken up to the field of execution just beyond the town limits and to the south of As Captain Brown filled his lungs with the crisp air he said to Mr. Sadler, "What a delicious atmosphere. It is very invigorat- Taliaferro stood for a moment and then turned on his heels and with him. Soldiers I left the jail. He did not awe the Kagi They're coming. Millions. old raider by his imposing presMillions. Following him. ence and attitude. At 11 o'clock a furniture wagon, (A the light fade from Kagi and Oliver, John Bmtvn in a nhite liuhl with two horses attached, was move arms the background, the drawn up in front of the jail. John head and hnuld"t of I'nion and Brown with Sheriff Campbell on has ever read, SOME of the most horrible stories the worldAllan Poe way, written by a fellow named Edgar back in the beginning of the last century. Historians andj biographers tell us that Foe was a man with a wildly diav ordered mind a feverish, almost insane brain, out of which1 he concocted his strange and terrible tales. The yarns were pure fiction, the vaporings of his brilliant but mad imagination. While reading one of his strange stories you might almost be tempted to say that nothing so bizarre could ever happen in real life. But don't say it You might be wrong. Truth has a trick of turning out to be stranger; than even the wildest sort of imaginative fiction. One of the most famous of Poe's stories is called "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." It is the tale of a ghastly murderthe tale of a woman throttled to death and her body stuffed up a fireplace chimney by a huge ape. And there is a he-wrot- curious, true parallel to that macabrs flight of fancy in this yarn we have hera today, told by Distinguished Adventurer Anna Jacob of Wood-sid-e, N. Y. It happened on Jar 21, 1911, and It's the story of the meet terrifying experience la Anna Jacob's life. The vara Involves a couple of neighbors la Fassale, N. J., where Anna then lived, sa let's look these neighbors over. One of tbem lived a few blacks Mrs. Gntches who had three small away from Anna's home children aged two, fear and six. On the fateful July day wtaea Anna's number tamed ap In Adventure's lottery, Mrs. Gntches had asked her to stay at her house and take care of the children while aha went oat to do some shopping. Anna Consents to Watch Neighbor's Children. Anna consented and so wa find her, as our story opens, kt second floor bedroom of the Gutches homo, watching over little two-yea-r- a ing." "Yes," replied Mr. Sadler. They reached a little knoll from which the open country could be seen. "Why, Mr. Sadler, you have a lovely country surrounding you. I had no idea it was so lovely." "Yes," replied Mr. Sadler. Then the old man's eye caught the Blue Ridge mountains. "Is the Blue Ridge always as beautiful as it is this morning?" he asked. "Yes," replied Mr. Sadler, "always so on bright days. Captain Brown, you are more cheerful She seised the fork prongs and made a Jab at the ape. old Anna May who lies ssleep in her crib. In another room the other wo children are taking their afternoon nap. It's two p. m., and all's welL But it won't be in another couple of minutes. Down the street a few doors from Anna Jacob's home Is another neighbor, and there Is where the tronble Is brewing. This other neighbor has a pet ape four feet tall, stocky and powerful, la a cage In the back yard. The ape Is tame bat in his big, hairy paw he holds a bottle. The bottle Is half full of whisky and It has been given him by the gardener, who thinks It's a great Joke to see the animal get drank. Bat watch oat, Mister Garthan I." dener. Men have done terrible things under the influence of liquor. "Oh! yes, I should be." What will an ape do In the same condlUon? And thus he proceeded to his The ape finishes the bottle of whisky. His teeth show as his lips death. curl back in a snarL One great muscular arm grasps a bar of the, Reaching the field, he got from John Brown in 1855. cage bends It rips it out Tha ape crawls through the opening. He's the wagon unaided and started off, over the fence free drunk looking for trouble as he hops and for the steps of the scaffold. Of and attached to the hook above, reels along through the back yards along the block. all the scenes in a life which has and he was moved blindfold a No one saw the break loose from his cage. No one saw him not been uneventful, that scene few steps forward. It was curi- prowling through the ape neighborhood. The first one to see him at all was at the scaffold is most indelibly ous to note how the instincts of Anna Jacob. In the second floor bedroom where little Anna May slept impressed upon my mind. To- nature operated to make him in her crib, Anna heard some strange scratching sounds. She went to night, as on that cool December careful in putting out his feet the window and stood frozen with terror st the sight of the ape climbing morning nearly a generation ago, if he were afraid he would walk up the side of the house. it stands distinctly before me. I off the The man There Was a Fiendish Look in the Ape's Eyes. see him as he places his foot on who stoodplatform. unblenched on the Anna didn't know the ape was drank, bat there was a fiendish No the first step. bravado, but brink of eternity was afraid of In look bloodshot eyes, and a meaning in his cor led lips and a calm mien and exquisite poise, falling a few his to feet the ground! bared fangs that told her something waa wrong. That ape, never step after step he takes, as He was now all ready. The too tractable in the first place, was bow a snarling bestial demon. though he were ascending the sheriff asked him if he should On It came, straight toward the window ont of which she waa stairs in a gentleman friend's him before a give private signal, home to a chamber in which he the It swung ap to the sffl, reached oat with strong, hairy looking. fatal moment He replied in was to rest Reaching the top, a voice hands, and RAISED THE SASH! unwhich be to seemed he steps forward on the trap, As the window went up, Anna leaped back. Her eyes darted about natural so composed glances at the thousands of sol- naturally tone and so distinct its the room, but the only weapon in sight was an apple picker a set of was its diers by whom he is surrounded articulation that "it did not forked prongs on a live foot wooden handle. She seized that and made scene." He throws his head back and looks at the rope which dangles above him. Then his eyes catch the Blue Ridge and he turns almost around grasping its beautiful sweep up the valley. A touch on his shoulder calls his attenThe air on the second day of tion, and, as he faces, the sheriff December was crisp and sharp, whispers to him. The old man such as we have in this latitude reaches up and removes his old in early December when the black felt hat laying it at his runs his fingers weather is fine. Early in the feet; then his and then his through hair, were morning there fleecy clouds arms are pinioned, his limbs are shrouding the sun, but by 10 the rope is adjusted and o'clock these had dissipated and bound, white the cap is drawn over his the sun shown brightly. face. John Brown dressed for the exThen an order Is given to the t ecution when he rose from bed. military and it commences to About nine o'clock, bedizened maneuver. Charging and retreatwith laces and cords and span- ing, flying off at the flank and gles, General Taliaferro, com- falling back on the center; 10 mandant of the 3,000 Virginia uni- minutes are occupied in this barformed militia, called at John barian behavior, and all the while Brown's cell. The old hero was the old man stands on the death engaged in writing. As he looked trap without a tremor. Jailer up and recognized the general he Avis becomes impatient and says said: to Captain Brown, "What is the hour of execu"Aren't you getting tired, Cap- tion?" "Eleven o'clock," replied the general. "I will have finished my correspondence before that hour," he replied as he resumed his pen. "Frenzy and the Beast" it and turns to Jailer Avis with, "Where are your citizens?" John Brown at the time "Citizens are not allowed to be of bis death. present" the jailer replies. "That is a great mistake a after bis capture, accommistake. Your citizens grave panied the "angry man of should have witnessed this God" and his fellow raiders when they were moved to Charlestown and was present when Brown was placed on trial for his life. Here is Donovan's account of the execution of John Brown: By 10 o'clock all was arrayed. The general effect was most imposing, and at the same time picturesque. The cadets were immediately in the rear of the gallows, with a howitzer on the right and on the left, a little behind so as to sweep the field. The whole enclosure was lined by cavalry troops, posted as sentinels, with their officers continually dashing around the enclosure. Outside this enclosure were other companies acting as rangers and scouts. Shortly after 11 o'clock the prisoner was taken from the jail and the funeral cortege was put in motion. First came three companies then the criminal's wagon, drawn by two large white horses. John Brown was seated on his coffin, accompanied by the sheriff and two other persons. The wagon drove to the foot of the gallows, and Brown descended with alacrity, and without assistance, and ascended the steep steps to the platform. His demeanor was intrepid, without being braggart He made no speech, whether he desired to make one or not I do not know. His manner was free from trepidation, but his countenance was not without concern, and it seemed to me to have a little cast of wildness. He stood upon the scaffold but a short time, giving brief adieus to those about him, when he was properly pinioned, and the white cap drawn over his face, the noose adjusted tain?" "No, but I do not see the neces- sity for keeping me waiting long." go The military settle. The sherthe old man and touches his hand with a handkerchief with the remark: "Drop this when you are iff approaches ready." "Oil, no! I do not need that. 1 am always ready." In a few seconds the trap is sprung and in 13 minutes John Brown's suul is with his (Ind matter to him, if only they would not keep him too long waiting." He was kept waiting, however. The troops that had formed his escort had to be put into their proper positions, and while this was going on he stood for 10 or 15 minutes blindfolded, the rope around his neck, and his feet on the treacherous platform, expecting instantly the fatal act But he stood for this comparatively long time upright as a soldier in position, and motionless. I was close to him, and watched him narrowly, to see if I could set any sign of shrinking or tremOnce I bling in his person. thought I saw his knees tremble, but it was only the wind blowing his loose trousers. His firmness was subjected to still further trial by hearing Colonel Smith announce to the sheriff, "We are all ready, Mr. Campbell." The sheriff did not hear, or did not comprehend, and in a louder tone the announcement was made. But the culprit still stood steady, till the sheriff, descending the flight of steps, with blow of a sharp a hatchet severed the rope that held up the which instantly sank sheer beneath him, and he fell about three feet. And the man of strong and bloody hand, of fierce passions, of iron will, of wonderful vicissitudes the terrible partisan of Kansas the capturer of the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry the would-bCataline of the South of the Abolitionists the demi-gothe man execrated and lauded damned and prayed for the man who in his motive., his ir. id ns, his plans, and his successes must ever be a wonc.cr, a and a mystery John lu.ie, .li own was hanging between lii."n md earth. well-direct- ed trap-doo- r, e d a jab at the ape. The ape was half way through the window, bat he drew back. Without knowing It Ansa was using the one weapon that animals are afraid of the same sort of sharp, pouted goad that lies tamers awe to keep their hogo eats at a distance. The ape made another lunge throngs the window, bat again Anna thrust forward with her pronged stick. Again the ape drew back. Anna could keep him from coming through the window but that was alt If she relaxed her vigilance for a moment the drunken beast would be In the room. She wanted to run for help, but that would mean leaving little Anna Mae, In the crib, to the mercy of the brute. And there was no mercy In that glowering simian face and those burning, bloodshot eyes. Anna Watches Chance to Catch Him Unawares. As I kept thrusting the apple picker at him," Abbs says, "1 watched my chance to catch aim unawares, bat the ape was too nick for me. I prayed that be weald get tired of dodging that picker and go away, bat be only glared at me eat of his ugly little eyes and kept sa trying. Boors passed, and I was almost ready to drop from weariness and strain. Again and again I thoaght of running for help, bat If I left' that ape alone for a moment he would kill the child hi the crib perhaps even break ' dowa the doors and get at the ether children." It was late that afternoon before any help came to Anna. Then the owner of the ape came home, found him missing and searched the neighborhood. Not until then was Anna released from duty that kept her standing before that window making repeated jabs with her stick st that brute. She was all but exhausted by then, but at last the children were safe. Anna ssys she never wants to see another ape as long as she lives, and I don't blame her. My guess is that if it hadn't been for her courage and fortitude, Poe's story of the Murders In the Rue Morgue might have been repeated In rasiaic. drink-craze- d (Released by Westers Newspaper Union.) Cracking, Scaling Chief Causes of Paint Weatherin tkin and sealing are two of the methods by which psint weathers. Some of the causes of this, painters say, are the use of paints containing an excen of hard pigments, hesvy coats of paint not properly rubbed out. painti mixed with an excess oi tatty linseed oil, or cheap paints containing an excess of unsuitable pigments and oils, which form a brittle instead of an elastic film. Other renowns sdvanced by paint authorities non-elast- ic are painting over a peeling, cracking, or scaling old coat without re moving mo oia paint; priming with such pigments ss iron oxide, Vene-tia-n rod. ochre, or Dutch pink; long, deferred repainting, when especially a brittle or semlbriltle paint was used previously; and over painting wood having an excess of resin in It All paint experts advise against spacing the paintings over too long periods. |