Portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case), had I so interfered inīehalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or inīehalf of any of their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, orĬhildren, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit hasīeen fairly proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater

I have another objection and that is, it is unjust that I should suffer suchĪ penalty. Murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves Through the country, and finally left them in Canada. There took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moved them I intended certainly to have made aĬlean thing of that matter, as I did last winter, when I went into Missouri and The design on my part to free the slaves. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say. Henry David Thoreau, although himself did not favor violence, praised John Brown, and when the fiery preacher was sentenced to death, Ralph Waldo Emerson said: 'He will make the gallows holy as the cross.' One month before his execution, John Brown addressed a courtroom in Charlestown, West Virginia, defending his role in the action at Harper's Ferry. Captured and brought to trial at nearby Charles Town, Brown was found guilty of treason.

On October, 16, 1859, John Brown and nearly two dozen comrades seized the armory at Harper's Ferry in West Virginia, hoping to use its massive arsenal in the struggle to forcibly end slavery.

Books of Blood by Clive Barker