culty. Several spirited speeches were made, and after the public meeting, which was held for general purposes, a private meeting was held for the purpose of devising definite measures in aid of those who were making their way to the contested ground in the interests of free soil. At this meeting the following address was prepared and placed in the hands of George D. Woodin, Esq., who was to visit all the counties to the south and west for the purpose of opening up a line of communication:

"To the friends of the Kansas Free State cause in Iowa-The undersigned have been appointed a committee to act in connection with similar committees appointed in Chicago and other States, and with committees of like character to be appointed in various counties of the State, and especially in those counties lying west and southwest of us.

"The plan of operations is the establishment of a direct route and speedy communication for eastern emigrants into Kansas. The committee have appointed Messrs. George D. Woodin, Esq., William Sanders and Capt. S. N. Hartwell to visit your place for the purpose of having a committee appointed there to facilitate the general plan of operations and carry out the details. They will explain to you the minutie of this plan, at greater length than we are able to do in this communication.

"Capt. Hartwell is a member of the State Legislature in Kansas, and is recently from the scene of the ruffian atrocities, which have been com. mitted in that embryo State.

"We have here pledged our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honors to make Kansas a free State, and we shall expect our friends from this place westward will give us their hearty co-operation.

"Yours in the cause of freedom,

"W. P. CLARK, Chairman.

"C. W. HOBART, Secretary.

"H. D. DOWNEY, Treasurer.

"Iowa City, June 10, 1856."

"I. N. JEROME.

“LYMAN ALLEN.

"J. TEESDALE.
"M. L. MORRIS.

As before remarked, Mr. Woodin in particular was active and diligent in transacting the business delegated to him. He made a complete tour of the counties lying in the proposed route of the "emigrants" and estab lished committees. He succeeded in enlisting in this enterprise the most active and reliable men in the various towns which he visited who were in sympathy with the movement. Most of the men are still living and many of them have since achieved a national reputation. The following are the names of the individuals composing the committees at the various points along the route:

Wassonville-Isaac Farley, Myron Frisbee, N. G. Field.

Sigourney-N. H. Keath, A. T. Page, T. S. Byers, A. C. Price.

Oskaloosa-William H. Seevers, A. M. Cassaday, James A. Young, Lonis Reinhart, S. A. Rice.

Knoxville-J. M. Bayley, James Mathews, Hiram W. Curtis, William M. Stone, James Sample, Joseph Brobst.

Indianola-B. S. Noble, George W. Jones, Lewis Todhunter, J. T. Lacy' G. W. Clark, H. W. Maxwell.

Osceola J. D. Howard, G. W. Thompson, A. F. Sprague, Jno. Butcher, J. G. Miller, G. L. Christie.

Quincy-R. B. Lockwood, T. W. Stanley, H. B. Clark, E. G. Bengen, D. Ritchey.

Winterset-H. J. B. Cummings, W. L. McPherson, D. F. Arnold, W. W. McKnight, J. J. Hutchings.

Des Moines-A. J. Stevens, T. H. Sypherd, W. W. Williamson, B. S. Chrystal.

Newton-H. Welker, William Skiff, William Springer, E. Hammer, H. J. Skiff.

It was necessary to observe great caution and secrecy, as the administration at that time was in sympathy with the pro-slavery party, and United States Marshals were on their way to Kansas from the North. The underground railroad having been put into good running order, Superintendent Woodin and his station agents did quite a business in forwarding "emigrants" during the fall, winter and following spring and summer.

One incident connected with the working of the underground railroad especially deserves mention, it was the first meeting of Gen. Jim Lane and John Brown.

Late in the summer of 1856 the people of Sigourney were considerably interested in an unusually large number of emigrants who came through the town late in the afternoon, and encamped for one night near by. Persons who had no connection with the "Emigration Society" noticed that Dr. Price and other members of the committee soon became very intimate with the leading men among the "emigrants." In fact so intimate were Price and his conferees with the chief emigrants that they held a conference in a back parlor of the Clinton House, then the leading hotel of Sigourney. After the conference had lasted some time the emigrants returned to their camp to look after some business while the committee remained in the room at the hotel awaiting their return. In the meantime there was a knock on the door, which being opened admitted a healthy, robust man, dressed in the garb of a frontiersman, who announced himself as Captain Moore, from Kansas, and desiring to see one Jim Lane, whom he expected to find at that place. He was informed by the committee that Jim Lane, for such one of the "emigrants" proved to be, had just retired, but would return shortly. Upon the invitation of the committee the stranger took a seat, but upon being questioned by the committee with regard to Kansas affairs manifested considerable reticence, not caring apparently to discuss those matters. Presently Lane returned, and upon being introduced, the stranger looking him steadfastly in the face, and taking, as it were, an estimate of the man from head to foot, said: "You are Jim Lane, are you? Well, I am John Brown. I guess we have heard of one another before." John Brown now satisfied that he was in the company of friends, and that his cause in Kansas would not suffer by a narration of events then transpiring in that Territory, threw off his former reserve and talked freely and passionately. It is said by persons who were in the room that they never heard such eloquent and impassioned words fall from the tongue of living men as those uttered by Brown when speaking of the Kansas troubles. He first spoke of the country; of the beautiful prairies, its rich soil, and its beautiful rivers, and while doing so his countenance lit up with an almost superhuman light and cheerfulness; pausing for a moment he seemed to be deeply moved, his countenance underwent an entire change, and from being

an angel Brown now resembled a fiend. At length he broke forth in the most vehement language; he spoke of the blighting curse of slavery, and of the overbearing conduct of the pro-slavery men in their efforts to extend the accursed system; of the atrocities of the border ruffians from Missouri. When at length he contemplated the possibility of this fair land becoming blasted by the curse of slavery, its beautiful prairies turned into slave plantations, its fertile soil pressed by the foot of the bondman, and its beautiful streams flowing past slave pens, he was unable to control himself; he strode through the room, he stamped on the floor, and tore his hair with his sunburnt hands. Jim Lane became inspired by the words of his new made acquaintance, and it was arranged that he should make a speech that night in Sigourney. The speech was made from a dry goods box in front of Page's stone block, which stood where now is McCauley's hardware store.

The "emigrants" had in their train a queer looking vehicle which they said was a prairie plow; it was covered with a tarpaulin and some of the curious citizens after the "emigrants" had fallen asleep, anxious to see what kind of an agricultural implement these tillers of the soil had, any. way, a slight investigation convinced these inquisitive ones that it would plow up the ground in spots if it once got to work on the soil of "bleeding Kansas," but that it would be too noisy and dangerous for the fallow ground of Iowa. That prairie plow proved to be an eight pound cannon, and was heard from inside of thirty days thereafter. The emigrants, num. bering some seventy-five, left the next morning accompanied by John Brown and Jim Lane.

Bleeding Kansas after bleeding for some four years, boasting for part of the time in two rivial Territorial governments, was admitted into the Union as a free State in 1861. Jim Lane's pathetic end falling a victim to his own vices and his own hands, and Brown's misguided but noble and heroic campaign at Harper's Ferry are subjects of fireside conversation in almost every household in the land, and it is hoped that the narration of the foregoing incidents, trifling in themselves, but momentous as passing circumstances attending great national events, will not arouse any slumbering animosities nor engender any new strifes.

TRAIN ROBBERS.

The regular express train over the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, due from the west at 10:30 o'clock on July 21st, 1873, did not arrive at Des Moines on time, and about 11 o'clock the news spread over the city that the train had been attacked, ditched and sacked by a masked gang of robbers. The place selected by the ruffians for their attack on the train was a lonely and unsettled region of country along the railroad about half way between Adair and Anita, sixty-four miles west of Des Moines. The engineer of the train, Mr. Rafferty, was found dead after the robbers departed, and it was first reported that he had been shot by the miscreants; this however proved to be a mistake, as it was afterward discovered that he was injured by the falling train. There were at least seven of the robbers and possibly more. For the space of about twenty minutes these men had complete possession of the train, and the employes and passengers were virtually compelled to do as the robbers demanded. No attempt was made to injure anyone who remained inside of the cars, but when anyone at tempted to get out he was immediately covered with a revolver and ordered

back. The object of the attack was to get possession of a large amount of money which was supposed to be in charge of the express messenger. In this they were disappointed, as all they captured was probably less than two thousand dollars. After satisfying themselves that they had all the money in the express car, the robbers mounted their horses and rode south. The whole region of country in the neighborhood of the attack was soon aroused, and before morning several hundred people were on the track of the robbers. The latter however, succeeded in eluding their pursuers and escaped into Missouri.

RAILROAD DISASTER.

One of the most fearful and destructive accidents that ever befel the C., R. I. & P. Railroad, happened on Wednesday morning August 29th, 1877, about nine miles east of Des Moines, in which about twenty persons were killed outright, and about thirty wounded. The heavy rain of the previous night had washed the stone foundation from under a bridge, leaving no support, thus making it the awful trap of death which it proved to be.

The scene as it appeared at daylight beggared description; it was a picture of calamity and woe. The dead and dying were taken out of the debris and cared for as best they could. The entire train except the sleeper was a total wreck. Those on that car were not injured. Barnum's poster car was in the train and was completely demolished and several men killed. the following is the list of killed as given by the Des Moines Register: "John K. Bolt, druggist, of Boone; Allie Bolt, daughter of above, aged 7 years; William Gunning, newsboy of train.

The following were Barnum's men:

Green Berry, F. B. Baker, J. H. Breese, A. Mack, George Blackwell, Charles Thompson and Charles Parcell.

"William Rakestraw, engineer of train; Mrs. Emily Babcock; Mrs. Wm. Crow, wife of the freight and ticket agent of the C., R. I. & P. depot of East Des Moines; M. Cohen, commercial traveler; Jabez E. Prince and A. D. Bronson, of Cincinnati; Thomas Donaway, of Des Moines.

"Redmond McGuire, one of the largest farmers in the vicinity of Des Moines, is known to have been on the train, as Mr. J. L. Graham says he saw him within a very few moments prior to the accident. Nothing has been found of him up to 6 P. M., and it is now certain he was lost."

THE JOHNSON MURDER.

On Sunday morning, June 14, 1874, the body of a dead man was found on Second street, in Des Moines. Upon examination the body proved to be that of John Johnson, and from the character of certain wounds found on the head it was evident that Johnson had been murdered.

At that time there was a notorious house of ill-fame on Second street, on the opposite side from where the body of Johnson had been found. The house was kept by one Annie Groves, but although the finding of the murdered man in such close proximity to the brothel was a circumstance which led to the suspicion that the murder had been done at Annie Groves' place and that she, in all probability, knew something about the perpetration of the foul deed, nevertheless, no arrests were made, and it does not appear that any special investigation was had at that time other than a brief and

formal coroner's inquest, which developed nothing further than the fact that Johnson had come to his death by violence.

Johnson was buried, and after having been discussed by the street loaf. ers for a few days, the matter ceased to be a matter of public comment and was, for the time being, apparently forgotten. A large reward, however, had been offered for the arrest of the murderers of Johnson, and the appar. ent indifference of the officers was but feigned in order to throw the guilty ones off their guard and enable the detectives to work to a better advantage. The first intimation the public received that the officers were at work was on the 28th of August, more than two months after the murder, when the fact was made public that the officers had arrested two persons supposed to have been implicated in the homicide. They were Charles Howard and Annie Groves.

Howard was a bar-tender and a banjo-player, and of rather prepossessing personal appearance. He was known to be a frequenter of Annie Groves' house, but farther than that there had been nothing in his conduct to fasten suspicion on him, until, to the very general surprise of the officers and the sporting men of the city, Howard married Annie Groves. Howard being much younger and of a more prepossessing appearance than Annie, the marriage seemed, to the uninitiated, as a great mystery, but to the officers it seemed to be the solution of a mystery. This marriage convinced the officers that Howard was the guilty man, and that Annie Groves, being a witness of the deed, had compelled Howard to marry her to keep the secret. Although satisfied in their own minds as to the criminality of the parties, the officers as yet had no evidence which would justify their arrest.

In a few days Howard and his wife suddenly left the city, and it was not long after their departure that the officers came into the possession of some facts which they deemed sufficient to warrant the arrest of the newly-wedded pair. The officers immediately set to work to ascertain the whereabouts of Howard and his wife. Officer Brennan took the matter in charge, and he tracked them to Grand Junction, in Greene county; from there he traced them to Carroll county, and finally found Howard at Carrollton and arrested him. Some ten miles from Carrollton he found Howard's wife, and, having arrested her, brought the two to Des Moines and lodged them in jail on the 28th of August.

At the next session of the District Court Howard was indicted and placed on trial. After an exciting and tedious trial he was found guilty, and one of the last acts of Judge Maxwell was to sentence Howard to imprisonment for life in the penitentiary. The sentence was pronounced on the 14th of December, and Howard was placed in the Polk county jail, preparatory to his being taken to the penitentiary at Fort Madison on the following day. Annie Howard, who was also under arrest as an accomplice, accompanied the condemned man to prison. When the prison doors closed behind the guilty man that evening, they shut out from him daylight for the last time.

Previous to the trial of Howard, a man by the name of Charles Ricord was also arrested. Annie Howard and the said Ricord, in the course of time, secured a change of venue and were tried elsewhere.

THE LYNCHING OF HOWARD.

After Howard had been sentenced the large crowd of people who had been idle spectators of the trial returned home, supposing that the matter