Show reminiscences of john brown times wines one odthe of the of lake placid eidex county new york is an old negro named eppes who lives back in the woods but almost every day ina may be seen driving hia his rig at a dogtrot along the road which lends leads to the hotels and cottages t ag es he is a farmer in a small way and find lives by selling chickens and other produce to the summer residents and hotel people hia iiii rig consino con of a primitive unpainted wagon and mule eppes owes his reputation to hia his having been a friend of john brown who spent several years in the neighborhood of eppels house working at his profession long before the raid upon harpers pe rs ferry a rich friend of the I 1 negros officered ered a large tract of land in in eyes county to any colored families who would accept the gift the tract wag was to be divided up into homesteads for weeks john brown lived among the negroes in the recesses of the woods and located the dividing lines sitting in I 1 n eppels parlor with a p portrait portrait of the martyr in my hand upon which the negro looked with evident respect I 1 learned some interesting incidents of john browns bowns life life in the adirondacks mrs eppes an old sat by ti and put in a word or two now and an then that showed her loyalty to the hero of harpers fer ferry john brown the tuond husband eaid drove over ove here from pittsburg when he first came hero here with a number of colored families I 1 was one of the black men whom ho fie took out with him to lay lav out the dividing lines the woods w were dense and wild wo we would bo be out outcome some times a week at a time brown was always a very grave roan man and very deliberate he ile bore all the annoyances incidental to roughing it with the negroes ver very y pa patiently tient ly I 1 remember that the mosquitoes u i were very thick and anti our ou nh r hands lids and arms sometimes would be black with them while wo we worked wo we colored men would make a great disturbance over them and slid slap pur our bands hands on our arms a great deal 1 I have hav i e often seen brown set lis his instrument with the injects insects thick upon him and yet paying no to them then he ile would finish what he lie was at and then quietly brush them off I 1 recollect one sunday evening in particular when wo we all lay around the fire ind and john brown asked us to sing hymns among those we olne coined a in was jerus jerusalem mein the we sang it very loud when we finished he said quietly that ho he like the hymn ho he believe in that kind of a heaven all praise he ile thought people would be working as well as araie praie praising eing in the other world sometimes john brown and I 1 11 had ad talks among ourselves I 1 remember on once the conversation got on oil the subject of the future before I 1 the colored men vc vt agreed that freedom must buia to them before very lo 10 lorg IF g john brown a said aid he ile thought the time tima bad had almost come then after a pause ho he went on who for such a result as that would not be willing to swing bo be twe tween en heaven and earth with nath ing illg to stand on we Me respected him very much he flet would come to visit us and w waa as particularly often at my house houe e he had rather lecul peculiar bior ways at leaving he would talk to you until be yas itra al most out of sight ho he used to wear a long frock froc coata coat a good deal he was very downright in all that he said or did on one occasion occasion a colored man who wanted brown to favor his bide cf ef a question came up to him abd began to whisper to him but brown made all his an in in a loud voice when he went south from here he wanted me to go with him and came over to see me about it he ile had a good deal of confidence in me and would speak freely reely to me tomo of or the colored people he trust in as much when the news of john browns arrest came we all felt very sorry some of the white set seta tiers flers felt differently di 0 one of them spoke right t out and said that it served him right did any of the negroes say that I 1 asked no sir air he have been a true colored man if he had mrs eppes quickly said the john brown farm wh which was once owned by the hero of harpers Ilar pera ferry is well known in the neighborhood of lake placid many of the cotta cottagers gera get their provisions there it is kept by ties descendants cendan ts of brown the original house is still standing though it has been added 0 to o the body of the hero bero lies out in front of the house at tho the baso base of a boulder on the mountain side around him are other members of bis his family ancestors and sons who died or were killed in the south in the sams sama conflict in which he ile ga gave ve up bis his life there is quite a graveyard one ono atone brought from tho the grave of one of his ancestors anc ancestors estori who died in ill new england has all the iti inscriptions scrip engraved upon it A wood box covers this ancient looking headstone and is removed upon the approach of visitors relics and soft drinks are sold about the premises looking out from the boulder over john browns grave a splendid mountain view opens ou out t |