Report of the special committee appointed to investigate the troubles in Kansas,: with the views of the minority of said committee.

KANSAS AFFAIRS. Shannon was at the head of these men we were against. I knew Gen eral Richardson; he held the office of general or colonel, I don't know which. He resides in St. Joseph. I saw Col. Boone, and he was said to be one of the commanding officers of that army, but I do not know particularly who said so. I know nothing from my own knowl edge of the sheriff of Douglass trying to serve writs at that time. I know of no meetings at that time, or passage of resolutions to resist the laws of the Territory. I know of no combination to resist the laws of the Territory. I do not know where Mr. Abbott was sent. I do not know of anybody else being sent for arms, or of any other arms being received. I do not know when these arms were received by Mr. Abbott. The company that got their arms, got them after the Missourians began camping there. We did not undertake to resist Governor Shannon, but the mob of Missourians he fetched with him, and which we were going to resist in self-defence. I could not say who this mob was under command of; except by report. They were encamped on the Wakarusa and at Franklin. A part,were said to be at Lecompton, and a part across the river here. The purpose of this organization was not to resist the execution of the Territorial laws, but in defence of our lives and property against this mob of Missourians who were said to be coming against us. I was at the Big Springs convention. There was something passed we called the repudiation of the laws of the Territory, but I do not know as that was in the form of a resolution. We said there were no laws in the Territory, and we repudiated those that were said to exist. I do not recollect of any resolution passed there, and not printed, recommending the organization of military companies to resist the laws. To the best of my recollection and knowledge, no resolution was passed, and nothing done, by that meeting, except what was printed, as ordered by the meeting, and circulated. The action of the meeting here in Lawrence, in August or September last, was printed. To the best of my recollection, the conclusions of the meeting were reduced to writing, and printed. I have been to no meeting where this was not done. I do not know where these resolutions can be had, or in what papers they were published, except the " Herald of Freedom" and the "Kansas Free State," published here, though I could find them at home. I do not know who was the secretary of the meeting. By Mr. Sherman: We have had several meetings here through the season. The one I refer to was, I think, in August last. Cross-examined by Mr. Ro~eder: The inducement for mak ing the organization at this place, was for the defence of our lives and property. We apprehended some destruction of life and pr(-)o: Ii,y e at that time. This neighborhood was invaded by a body,Nl'4s.surians soon after that. The report was that there was a g,t):,.t; of property taken and destroyed by these Missourians. This I se l,'-r~ trom persons in this organization who 1118

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Title
Report of the special committee appointed to investigate the troubles in Kansas,: with the views of the minority of said committee.
Author
United States. Congress.
Canvas
Page 1118
Publication
Washington,: C. Wendell, printer,
1856.
Subject terms
Kansas -- History

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"Report of the special committee appointed to investigate the troubles in Kansas,: with the views of the minority of said committee." In the digital collection Making of America Books. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/afk4445.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 13, 2025.
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