OCR Text |
Show JOHN mm Al KANSAS SunllowerStateCelebrat-ng SunllowerStateCelebrat-ng in Honor of One of its Great Characters Osnwatoniie, Kan., Aug. 30. Not since tint time, !" years ago today, when John Browns men withstood ten times thrlr number of Missouri guerrillas In the woods at the edge of town, hus Osawatomie ben so excite,!. ex-cite,!. Today the celebration of the anniversary 1egan. The town stretched itself r.nd Is lidding thousands thou-sands of visitors from all Jiiirts of the state, perhaps half of the crowd of at least 2"i;0''io persons expected here tomorrow to-morrow at the second dav of the celebration cele-bration when Theodore Roosevelt will make the address dedicating o the state as a park the wooded hillside whore the battle was fought. ' The battlefield for half a oulnry. a peaceful pasture where cattle grne. was tramped today to the hardness ot pavement by loyal Kansans who filled the ninze of now benches under the trees and heard the speakers tell a state to "Glory and praise its first' hero" So much enthusiasm for John Brown lias been awakened that a movement for a statue of the western abolitionist In the hall of fame at Washington was started by resolution at the morning session. "From boulevards overlooking both Nynnzas, The strutted bronze shall glitter In the sun. With ri nged lettering, John Brown of dared begin; he lost, but losing, won." This was the last stanza of a poem. "Jcrhn Brown," by Eugene War, recited this morning. The prophetic inscription probably will be placed on the base of the statue, which It is now proposed shall glitter In the hall of fame. It was here that the Incipient conditions which precipitated the civil war began. It was here that .lotin Brown came out from the caM, settled and built his cabin, organized his forces and began his fight for freedom. free-dom. That Kansas since that time, when she struggled with herself as to which nlde she should take In the fight which almost rent the I'nlon. always has been a turbulent state, nnmlstake-aMe nnmlstake-aMe In her views and rendv to take her' share of the responsibility In any national question, was the principal point emphasized by Joseph G. Waters Wa-ters of Topeka, the speaker of the day. Mr. Waters even went so far as to say that it was Mr Roosevelt's serious handicap that he was not born in Kansas Summing up the career of John Brown, Mr. Water3 said: "Measured, by little things he may have been. Intane, but in the avenging aveng-ing rurposeB of heaven he was the chosen Instrument to right a great wrong. With the torch of liberty held In his implacable and unrelenting unre-lenting hand he was God's own incendiary to puree the lpnd with fire. John Brown sleops shadowed by a great roek at Nrtb Flba. His grave Is a shrine. Misunderstood, reviled re-viled and despised, he lived a life apart from man. beyond their touch, possessed of ene ourpose and died a rnorMr to Its fulfillment"' A drill by the troops of the Kansas National Guard opened today's program. pro-gram. Theodore Roosevelt Is expected to arrive here nt :3o o'clock tomorrow morning. First he wl!l be tal en to vlflt the old cabin of John Brown, then will take part In a parade with a military escort. At about 2:30 o'clock In the afternoon ho will be introduced in-troduced by Governor W. R. SfuMs of Kansas and will make a speech dedicating the park. Durinc the day from the same platform plat-form addresses are to be mide by Gifford PInchot and Jpnies R. Garfield. Gar-field. At I o'clock the ex-nresldent vill boprd a special train for Law- j reuee, where, ?s the guest of Governor 1 Stubbs he will spend the night. j |