History of Atchison County, Kansas. Sheffield Ingalls

informed of the passage of this resolution never more to show himself in this vicinity.

      2. Resolved. That in case he fails to obey this reasonable command, we inflict upon him such punishment as the nature of the case may require.

      3. Resolved. That other emissaries of this ‘Aid Society’ now in our midst, tampering with our slaves, are warned to leave, else they too will meet the reward which their nefarious designs so justly merit.—Hemp.

      4. Resolved. That we approve and applaud our fellow-townsman, Grafton Thomassen, for the castigation administered to said J. W. B. Kelley, whose presence among us is a libel upon our good standing and a disgrace to our community.

      5. Resolved. That we commend the good work of purging our town of all resident abolitionists, and after cleaning our town of such nuisances shall do the same for the settlers on Walnut and Independence creeks whose propensities for cattle stealing are well known to many.

      6. Resolved. That the chairman appoint a committee of three to wait upon said Kelley and acquaint him with the actions of this meeting.

      7. Resolved. That the proceedings of this meeting be published, that the world may know our determination.”

      After the passage of these resolutions they were circulated throughout Atchison and all citizens were asked to sign the same and if any person refused he was deemed and treated as an abolitionist. A few days after this incident Rev. Pardee Butler, a minister of the Christian church, who was living at that time near the now abandoned townsite of Pardee, west of Atchison, about twelve miles, came to town to do some trading. Butler was an uncompromising anti-slavery advocate and never overlooked an opportunity to make his sentiments known. He had strong convictions backed by courage, and while he did not seek controversies, he never showed a desire to avoid them. He was well known in the community as a Free State man, and so when he came into Atchison after these resolutions were passed and the town was all excited about them it did not take him long to get into the controversy and he condemned in strong terms the outrage upon Kelley and also the resolutions which were passed. In the course of a conversation which he had at the postoffice with Robert S. Kelley, the postmaster and assistant editor of the Squatter Sovereign, he informed Mr. Kelley that he long since would have become a subscriber to his paper had he not disliked the violent sentiments which appeared in its columns. Mr. Kelley replied: “I look upon all Free Soilers as rogues and they ought to be treated as such.” Mr. Butler responded: “I am a Free Soiler and expect to vote for Kansas as a Free State.” “I do not expect you will be allowed to vote,” was Mr. Kelley’s reply. On the following morning Mr. Kelley called at the National hotel, corner of Second and Atchison streets, where Mr. Butler had spent the night, accompanied by a number of friends and demanded Butler to sign the resolutions, which of course Mr. Butler refused to do, and walked down stairs into the street. A crowd gathered and seized Mr. Butler, dragging him towards the river, shouting that they intended to drown him. The mob increased in size as they proceeded with the victim. A vote was taken as to the kind of punishment which ought to be given him and a verdict of death by hanging was rendered. It was not discovered until forty years afterwards that Mr. Kelley, the teller, saved Mr. Butler’s life by making false returns to the excited mob. Mr. Kelley subsequently was a resident of Montana and gave this information while stopping in St. Joseph with Dr. J. H. Stringfellow, the former editor of the Squatter Sovereign. Instead of returning a verdict of death by hanging Mr. Kelley announced that it was the decision of the mob to send Mr. Butler down the Missouri river on a raft, and an account of what followed is best given by Rev. Pardee Butler himself:

      “When we arrived at the bank Mr. Kelley painted my face with black paint, marked upon it the letter “R.” The company had increased to some thirty or forty persons. Without any trial, witness, judge, counsel or jury, for about two hours I was a sort of target at which were hurled imprecations, curses, arguments, entreaties, accusations and interrogations. They constructed a raft of three cottonwood sawlogs, fastened together with inch plank nailed to the logs, upon which they put me and sent me down the Missouri river. The raft was towed out to the middle of the stream with a canoe. Robert S. Kelley held the rope that towed the raft. They gave me neither rudder, oar nor anything else to manage my raft with. They put up a flag on the raft with the following inscription on it:

      ‘Eastern Emigrant Aid Express.

      The Rev. Pardee Butler again for the underground road;

      The way they are served in Kansas: Shipped for Boston; Cargo insured. Unavoidable danger of the Missourians and Missouri river excepted.

      Let future emissaries from the north Beware.

      Our Hemp crop is sufficient to reward all such scoundrels.’

      “They threatened to shoot me if I pulled the flag down. I pulled it down, cut the flag off the flag staff, made a paddle out of the flag staff and ultimately got ashore about six miles below.”

      The mob was considerate enough to provide Mr. Butler a loaf of bread and permitted him to take his baggage on board, afterwards escorting him down the river for some distance.

      When Mr. Butler landed he returned overland to his home near Pardee. On April 30, 1856, he again ventured to make his appearance in Atchison, where he says: “I spoke to no one in town save two merchants of the place with whom I had business transactions since my first arrival in the territory. Having remained only a few minutes I went to my buggy to resume my journey when I was assaulted by Robert S. Kelley, junior editor of the Squatter Sovereign; was dragged into a grocery and there surrounded by a company of South Carolinians who are reported to have been sent out by a Southern Emigrant Aid Society. After exposing me to every sort of indignity they stripped me to the waist, covered my body with tar and then for the want of feathers applied cotton wool, having appointed a committee of three to certainly hang me the next time I should come to Atchison. They tossed my clothes into the buggy, put me therein, accompanying me to the suburbs of the town and sent me naked upon the prairie. I adjusted my attire about me as best I could and hastened to rejoin my wife and two little sons on the banks of Stranger creek. It was rather a sorrowful meeting after so long a parting.”

      The above incident gives some idea of the prevailing sentiment in Atchison county during the period beginning in 1854 and ending in 1857.

      There was little chance of Free State settlers to avoid trouble except by discreet silence. It would not be just, however, to fail to disclose the fact that the Free State men also had their secret organizations. The Kansas Legion was a military organization for defensive purposes only. Its members were organized into companies, battalions and regiments and were officered and armed with rifles and pistols sent from the East. These organizations were the natural result of the secret pro-slavery organizations of Missouri and were known to exist to protect the Free State settlers against the attacks of the Blue Lodges, Sons of the South, and the Social Bands.

      A man by the name of Pat Laughlin became a member of the Kansas Legion and was very active in organizing companies of that organization at different points in the territory. He subsequently became a traitor to his associates and gave out information to the enemy, thereby creating great indignation among his former friends whom he had betrayed. Later Laughlin and Samuel Collins, of Doniphan county, became engaged in a fierce altercation and friends of both parties to the dispute were present and armed. Laughlin shot Collins and killed him on the spot and was slightly wounded himself. This affair occurred October 25, 1855. No attempt was made by the appointed peace officers of the territory to bring the guilty parties participating in the Pardee Butler outrage or the murder of Collins to justice. Shortly after Laughlin recovered from his wound he secured a position in a store in Atchison and lived there for many years.

      This condition of affairs could not long exist without an open rupture between the two opposing forces and from this time on there was a succession of personal encounters of wide significance, and in addition there was the war along the border in which Atchison county played a conspicuous but not a glorious part. The activities here at that crucial period were largely in the interest of the pro-slavery forces. It was at this juncture that the immortal John Brown appeared on the scene to begin his work of driving the slavery advocates from Kansas and making it and the Nation free. His first appearance among the Free State men was December 7, 1855,