ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY PERSONS" MASSACRED!

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 8, 25 November 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY PERSONS" MASSACRED !

We extract, the following from the New York journals of August 26 ; — " The massacre of Cawnpore, which so startled the world" some few j ears since, and introduced the terrible scenes of the last East India war, has just had its counterpart on our own soil. The massacre of' Lawrence will, henceforth take rank beside it in history, And when the name of Nana Sahib awakens feelings of hate and indignation, that of Quantrell-p the ' Missouri border ruffian, will be associated with it. We are as yet' without the details of this last' fearful episode. The telegraph conveys, however, a sufficient impression of its horrors. The massacre took place at the noon of night, and the startled peaceful citizens were sent to their •" last, account by the bullets of murderers in- the glare of their burning houses, and in Ythe agonised embraces of their wives and children. _Qrie hundred and eighty persons are said to have fallen victims. These comprise the principal citizens, with the mayor and his son at the head of the list. There does not appear to have been any resistance Whatever offered- In was v sudden incursion of. fiendish guerillas, a repetition ofthe scenes that used to be enacted on our borders by the savage Indians, when villages were given to the flames by some " Monster Bran It, With all his howling, desolating blind." "One incident is related of twelve men having beendriven into a building and there shot, and the house burned over thena. Another is reported where twenty-five -negro recruits were shot dead. v The bodies' ef the murdered people were thrown into wells and cisterns. There wa* but one hotel left standing, which wasspared by Quantrell because he had heen entertained there some years ago without expense. Its proprietor, however, wai. shot. The principal part of the city has been reduced to the loss being set down roughly at two millions of dollars. Two banks were robbed, and tke third only escaped because the safe could not be forced quick enough. Of course, whatever valuables the .guerillas could lay their hands on they carried off, and it is supposed that they are now safe with their p*l under in their Missouri homes, where they assume the character of Union men, aud whence they will be ready to start on a new marauding and murdering expedition whenever they are called upon by their leader. Next to Leavenworth, Lawrence was the most thriving town between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. It is situated about 30 miles west from Leavenworth, on the right or western bauk of the Kansas River, which is here about 80 yards wide. The road has been kuown as the Delaware crossing. The river is crossed by meanS of a large flatbottomed ferry boat, operated by ropes ? that are suspended, between the bluffs on each side. A substantial stone bridge ' was being built at this point, and a railroad was also in course; of. -construction between Leavenworth and Lawrence— the first link of the Pacific road. The ; Kansas River was at first s-upposed to be navigable from its mouth as far as Lawrence, but only one steamboat ever got up so far, and she could never get down again. And yet, a few months ago, tlie writer of this article saw a steamboat being buit afc Law:ence, which he was told on inquiry was to be used in the lumber business up the river. The business street of the town . extended for perhaps a mile at right angles to the course of the river. Its western end reached to near the toot of a high hill, which had been named Mount Oread, where in the winter of 1855 the citizens of Lawrence intrenched themselves to resist an army of some one thousand five hundred border ruffians under Sheriff Jones and otber Missouri men, whose names were pretty famous in those times. The siege lasted about a fortnight, and was brought t-o a close by regular articles of negotiation and adjustment, signed by Wilson Shannon, regular Governor of the territory on behalf of the besiegers, and by C. Robinson, the irregularly ; elected free state Governor, and James 11. Lane, on behalf 6f the besieged. These articles recile that there lias been ■] a misunderstanding between tbe people ol Kansas, or a port ioa ef them,and the Governor thereof, arising I out of the rescue near Hickory Point of a citizen under arrest, and some other i matters. The citizens on their part agreed to disclaim consenting to the ] rescue, and to aid in the execution ofj legal process in the town br vicinity j of Lawrence ; while Governor Shannon on his part stipulated to use his influ- j ence to secure to the citizens remuneration for any damages sustained or unlawful depredation committed by the \ sheriff's posse in Douglas county, of which Lawrence is the 7 capital. The ; treaty being signed, Governor Shannon ; ordered the disbandonment of the beseigning army, and so the scige was raised. But Lawrence did not continue to enjoy the blessings of peace. Its citizens were for the most part; natives of New England, and therefore, ! being prima facie as well as really abolitionists, they incurred a double share of j the odium of their Missouri neighbors. The town bad beed founded under the auspices of the New England Emigrant Aid Society in the fail of 1854, receiv ing its name in' honor of Mr. A. A. Lawrence, of Boston, one of the organisers of the Society. r Ou the morning of May 21, 1856, the inhabitants awoke to l.nd Mount Oread occupied, by an advanced guard- of 2oo horsemen, under the lead of the redoubtable Colonel Titus. There were no preparations made. for defence, and the town surrendered at discretion, Senator Pomeroy, who repfeqejitegl the citizens, cqpl'eri'fd

with Sheriff- Jones, who demanded the* -surrender of all arms in the town on penalty of bombardment, giving half an , hour to .have the arms, stacked-- in- the. , s ro ts. Pomeroy represented thathe had no power over the arms of individuals, which were private property ; that if Jones . wanted them he must collect them himself; but that he was -willing to surrender* the' artillery^ which" had been used in defence ofthe' place during the .seige., t Jones acceded tothe offer, -and received a 15-pounder brass howitzer, and four A other small brass breach-loading cannon carrying a pound ball. In the meantime the forces collected at -Mount Oread — -under the command of Atchison, Buford, Stringfellow,' and Titus-^ marched down tothe town, where they were .addressed- by^ Atchison, who commenced his speech with * Boys, to-day Tm a Kickapbo; ranger, by G — d.* This day we have entered Lawrence, and the. Abolition:. ists have not dared to fire ia gun.' At the winding up of Ya long speech he said, 'And now: We'll go on with our highly honorable Jones*,- 1 and test the strength . of that damned Free State Hotel.' The Free Stajte ' Hotel had been built as a joint-stock *. : concern, a-nd was then conducted by> two brothers, n»m<ed YKldiidge., They were ordered to remove the furniture out of it before ie was demolished. There: was* litt'e -effort, however, made -to-do- so. The wanes, liquors, and cigars were sent freely round.. The Hotel was cleared; and Senator Atcfcison insisted on firing the first gun at it. Cannon were drawn up on the opposite side of.the street, and, although some fifty rounds were fired, it proved to. be slow. work. . Gunpowder was then resorted to; Two kegs exploded without much effect, except to communicate fire to the house, which was soon a mass of flames. Two newspaper offices, that of the Herald of Freedom and of the Free State were sacked, and their printing materials destroyed. Governor Robinson's dwell-ing-house on Mount Oread was burned and plund*«red,-and there was considerable pillage carried on iri the' town. This evenit is -known in history as the; sacking of Lawrence. Finally, the Federal Croc-ps under the. late MajorGeneral Edwin V. Summer interfered and put a stop to these atrocious outrages in Kansas, and established some sort of order under which it subsequently was ad mil ted as a free State. The Free • State Hotel was replaced by a iarge, • well-built and commodious 'house, which was first known as the Lawrence House, and since then as the Eld-ridge : House. It was kept by the satne gentle- ; men who were proprietors of the Free State Hotel, -Both of them have fallen ■ victims in the late massacre. One of. them, Mr James Eidridge, is mentionedas among the killed, and the other, Mr Joseph Eidridge, as among the mortally wounded. They were young, active, ' enterprising., and highly estimable men^ and their -establishment was the .best kept feotel to be found west-of -St> Louis. We hope that vengeance will be visited speedily on the heads of their murderers. The only victim ofthe massacre of whom we have any personal knowledge is Mr ,~ Lemyel Fillmore. Some eight or ten years ago Mr Fillmore, a graduate of an academy on the Hudson, came into our employment as : a reporter, and served in that capacity with great credit to himself and satisfaction tons for several years. He accom- ; panied General Johnston in his Mormon expedition as a special correspondent; of the lALei'&ld, and endured all the hardships of that winter campaign. 1 Soon after his return he joined his brother, Mr Lawrence Fillmore in a commere. al enterprise, and established an extensive dry goods house in Law- ' rence. By their attention and industry they succeeded in drawing to them- . selves all the dry goods business of the •: vicinity, and were soon able to erect a large, substantial store, exactly opp >- site the E'dridge House. Mr Fillmore, wi'h his moth ;r, wife, and .two young children, owned and occupied a handsome cottage house in the outskirts of the town, where it is probable he was murdered. The writer of this enjoyed his hospitality there last June, and left with a promise to visit him agaiu iuafew weeks. Hi returned to St. Louis, however, by a different route, and will see him no more. * It is reported that Colonel Jennison, formerly of the 6*:h Kansas, we believe, has got command of a regiment and has been sent after the murderers. If he should overtake them there would be a speedy reckoning with them. Jennison boasts that he carries six rebel bullets in his pockets, and no mercy in his heart. He is, therefore, jnst the man to be set on the trail of Quantrell and his savages. He had been removed from command because of his showing too little regard for secessionists and their sympathisers, just as the sth Missouri cavalry was disbanded at St Joseph last July, because they were too active and merciless in hunting out and extirpating bushwackers. We only pray that Jennison. and his jayhawkers may overtake Quantrell and his savages, and take summary, vengeance upon them for this Lawrence massacre. We may say in conclusion, that Lawrence was a New England town, transferred to the Far West, with all its refinement of life and manners. Ou the side walks of its business street were to b.e seen as elegant and well-dressed ladies as. may be met with in New York or Philadelphia, and society was on a level far above what would be looked for in a frontier town. The masssore of Law-* rence, we fear, will be thepreface to a border warfare more terrible and relent* less than any that history records.'*