Clearfield County PA Archives News.....A RECORD OF KANSAS RUFFIANISM June 18, 1856
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Raftsman's Journal. (Clearfield, Pa.) June 18, 1856
A RECORD OF KANSAS RUFFIANISM.
That there has been falsehood as well as truth sent over the telegraphic lines, by
the Missourians who have charge of them, is unquestionable. But these false
statements do not invalidate or diminish the real catalogue of crime. To enable our
readers to keep the latter in memory we subjoin below a list of a few occurrences,
which are authenticated by legal evidence, and which are not even attempted to be
denied. There are five times as many similar ones reported, and tolerably well
authenticated. But we wait until they shall be officially and legally confirmed
before adding them to the list:

INVASIONS.
November 29, 1854 - Missourians to the number of over one thousand invade Territory,
armed, drive Judges and legal voters from Polls, and by fraudulent ballots pretend
to elect Whitfield Delegate.
March 30, 1855 - Nearly four thousand Missourians again invade Territory and repeat
the outrages committed in November preceding.
October 1, 1855 - Third invasion of Missourians, accompanied by similar outrages.
December 15, 1855 - Fourth invasion, by which an endeavor is made to vote down the
Free-State Constitution, but proves a failure.
May 21, 1850 - Jones, a Missouri Postmaster, heads an armed mob of Alabama, Carolina
and Missouri men, which marches against Lawrence, pillages and plunders it, with
violence to the inhabitants, and the burning of several buildings. 

MURDERS.
October 2, 1855 - Thomas Neuman, a Free State man, stabbed in the streets of
Leavenworth by a gang of Missourians.
October 2, 1855 - Child killed while at play, by a shot fired by a Missourian at
James Furnam, a Free-State man, which missed him and entered a window.
November 23, 1855 - Charles W. Dow, a Free-State man, shot by F. N. Coleman,
Pro-Slavery settler. Murderer takes refuge with Gov. Shannon and is protected by
him.
December, 1855 - James Barber, Free-State man, assaulted and murdered by a shot
in the back from the gun of one of President Pierce's Indian agents.
November, 1855 - Collins, a Free-State man, called out from his mill, where he was
at work, and shot by Laughlin, a Pro-Slavery settler.
January 17, 1856 - E. P. Brown, a Free State man, taken prisoner by a gang of
Missourians, hacked to pieces with knives and hatchets, and his bleeding corps flung
into his own door from the effects of which his widow is now a maniac.
May 20, 1856 - John Stewart, formerly of Bushford, Allegany County, N. Y., a young
man of 20, shot in his saddle while attempting to escape from a party of "Jones's
posse."
May 19, 1856 - Jones, "the only son of his mother, and she a widow," aged 19, shot
thro' the back, by one of " Jones's posse," because he refused to give up his horse,
with which he supported himself and his widowed mother.

PRINTING OFFICES DESTROYED.
December 22, 1855 - “Territorial Register”, an Administration paper at Leavenworth,
conducted by Col. Delahav, mobbed for advocating a Free State, presses broken, type
thrown into the river and the editor threatened with murder.
April 14, 1855 - “Parkrille Luminary”, at Parkville, on the frontier, mobbed by
Missourians for similar cause, and the editors, Messrs. Park & Patterson, obliged to
quit the State.
May 21, 1856 - “Herald of Freedom” office, Lawrence, K. T., fired upon with a field
piece by "Jones's posse" and reduced to ruins.
“Tribun” office, Lawrence, K. T., mobbed, ransacked and set on fire and burned to
the ground, presses, &c, destroyed.

LYNCHINGS 1855 AND '56.
Sixteen Free-State men, at different times, have been tarred and feathered, or
beaten, or both, and some of them carried into Missouri, or set adrift in the river.
Among them were:
William Phillips, a lawyer of Leavenworth, and a member elect of the Territorial
Legislature; the Rev. Pardee Butler, a Baptist preacher; the Rev. Mr. Clark, a
Methodist missionary, and other ministers of the gospel, of various denominations.
Assaults and battery have been too numerous to recapitulate, hardly a day passes
without some attack on Free-State men in the streets or on the high roads. Among
those assailed have been Gov. Reeder, Gen. Pomroy, &c.

UNLAWFUL ARRESTS.
Of Governor Robinson without a warrant; of Mr. Brown, editor of “The Herald of
Freedom” without a warrant.
Of Messrs. Bronson, Hutchison, Deitzler, Schuyler, Smith, Baker, and fourteen
others, by Missourians acting under authority of a pretended court, for "high
treason," in refusing to obey laws of the ''Legislature" pretended to have been
elected by the Missouri invaders.

PRETENDED LAWS.
September, 1855 - Imposing a penalty of death for assisting slaves to escape.
Imposing penalty of death for circulating or printing publications calculated to
incite slaves to insurrection.
Imposing penalty of death for assisting slaves to escape from any State and take
refuge in the Territory.
Imposing penalty of five years imprisonment at hard labor for harboring fugitive
slaves.
Imposing penalty of two year's imprisonment for aiding a fugitive slave to escape
from custody of an officer.
Imposing penalty of five year's imprisonment at hard labor for writing, printing
circulating anything against slavery.
Imposing penalty of two year's imprisonment at hard labor for saying that persons
have not a right to hold slaves in the Territory.
Disqualifying all from sitting as Jurors who do not admit the right to hold slaves
in the Territory. 
Disqualifying all as voters who do not swear to support the fugitive slave law. 
Admitting any one to vote on payment of $1, no matter where resident, who will swear
to uphold the Fugitive Slave Law and Nebraska bill.
Appointing Missourians to be town and county officers for six years to come.
Re-enacting the Slave laws of Missouri, en masse, adding that wherever the word
"State" occurs in them, it shall be construed to mean "Territory.". “Albany Ex.
Journal”

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