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

KANSAS AFFAIRS.
SEcOND DIsTRICT-Bloomington.
HARRISON BURSON called and sworn.
I settled in the Territory on the 27th of September, 1854, in the
second district, and have resided there ever since. I was there the
30th of March, 1855, and was one of the judges of election in that
district, appointed by the governor. The judges met on the morning
of the 30th, and after being sworn, the polls were opened, as near as
I can recollect, about half-past eight o'clock We proceeded to receive votes, and had taken some fifteen names, when a company, aS
near as I can recollect, of three hundred and upwards, came marching
up With flags hoisted. I believe they were generally armed. They
came to the polls and demanded to be allowed to vote. My reply was,
that if they were legal voters they should have that privilege. I told
them that as the most of them were not known to me, the oath required by the law would have to be taken by them. This man Jones,
known now as sheriff Jones, appeared to be the leader of the gang,
and replied that they would not take the oath. His name is S. J.
Jones, and is now acting as sheriff. I replied that except they did
take the oath they could not vote. Jones replied that they had come up
from Missouri to vote, and they would vote, and they intended to make
Kansas a slave-State. They stated, also, that if they could not vote
by fair means, they would by foul. Jones, and others of the party,
whose names I do not know, said this. They also stated teat no man
should vote there that day that would take the oath. Some men who
were about the window, and had not voted when this crowd came up,
upon attempting to vote were taken up and carried back by the mob.
They then requested us to resign, if we would not let them vote. Our
reply was, that we should not do it. They then stated that if we did
not do so they would tear the house down and kill us. They made a
rush, and stove in the window and sash together, fixed pries to the
two corners of the house, and pried up the building some distance and
let it fall back. It was a log house. At that moment one of the
judges, Mr. Ellison, gathered up the ballot-box and rushed to the
door, and said that if we did not close the polls there would be one
hundred shots fired in here in less than fifteen minutes, and we would
all be killed. He opened the door and ran out into the crowd, taking
the ballot-box with him, and hurrahed for Missouri. At that moment numbers rushed in the door as fast as they could come in, with
revolvers and drawn bowie-knives in their hands. They now filled
the house; and Jones, one of the first who came in, requested us to
resign; that if we did not resign they would kill us. Jones drew.
from his pocket his watch, and gave us five minutes in which to resign or die. He held the watch until,the five minutes expired; and
as we did not resign, he extended the time one mirnute longer. About
the expiration of the one minute, I was called out to see Mr. Wakefield, telling Jones I would give him an answer about resigning when
I returned. After I got out of the house, my friends out there thinking it was dangerous for me to remain there any longer, judging from
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