The narrative of John Doy, of Lawrence, Kansas ...: Printed for the author.

REIGN OF TERROR.
slavery upon us, were laughing at and insulting the women
and children as'they ran from their burning homes in
their night clothes. Men were murdered, women and
girls were violated, and the invading mob treated the
Free State people of Kansas as if they were conquered
slaves, and utterly devoid of human rights. Our appeals
to the United States officials, and to Washington, were in
vain. We were laughed at, and our oppressors aided.
Armed with weapons from the government airsenal at Liberty, Missouri, they hoped soon to drive us away, and to
deprive us of all claim to our common heritage; to fix the
blighting curse of slavery upon the soil of Kansas, and a
padlock upon the lips of every man who wished to be free.
(See Appendix A.)
The United States Government, which should have protected us, looked on applaudingly (Appendix B). We
were quiet, peaceful, industrious citizens, and wished to
remain so, but we would not consent to bring up our children on land cursed by the toil of slaves. This was the
only condition on which we could hope for peace.
There was one other way, however, and that we determined to adopt. We could, and we would, conquer a peace.
We could endure the present state of things no longer.
We felt that they would go fromn bad to worse, and we
swore to treat the invaders as noxious vermin; we would
drive them out or die. We formed ourselves into companies, we drilled, we made oath to stand by each other
and by freedom for Kansas until death.
On the 12th of August, 1856, we took the field with our
Sharpe's rifles, and went to Franklin after a party of these
marauding ruffians. We found them in a well-fortified
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