248 Indiana University 
‘‘to abhor with undying hatred that sum of all villainies, — 
slavery”.^® 
His wife came to see him on the day before the execution. 
They met without emotion and spent a few hours together 
after which she returned to Harper’s Ferry to await the de- 
livery of her husband’s body.^^ 
Finally the day of execution arrived. John Brown arose 
early, spent some time in reading his Bible, wrote a few let- 
ters, and made his will. A gallows had been erected in an 
open field less than a mile from the jail. About eleven o’clock 
a spring wagon with a cofhn in it was driven up close to the 
jail. Fifteen hundred soldiers were on duty, and two long 
lines of them formed on either side of the prison.^® 
The old Puritan was ready. The prison guards, the jailer, 
and his wife had all been completely captivated by their pris- 
oner in his stay of a month and a half with them. Tears now 
fell fast as each shook his hand and bade him good-bye. To 
one of the guards he handed a slip of paper upon which were 
probably his last written words: “I, John Brown, am now 
quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never 
be purged away, but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly 
flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might 
be done.” In view of subsequent history this statement 
sounds almost prophetic. From the jail door he walked with 
a firm step between the two lines of soldiers, climbed into the 
wagon, and seated himself upon the box containing his coffin.^^ 
There is a familiar story that while on the way to execution 
a slave mother held up her little black baby to him and that 
with arms pinioned he stooped forward and kissed the child. 
As a matter of fact the story is a myth pure and simple.®^ 
It was a bright, clear, December day. The most unconcerned 
man in that company was John Brown. He remarked about 
the fine day and the beautiful scenery as he looked toward 
the mountains. Arrived at the scaffold he ascended it with 
•46 November 30, 1859, in Villard, op. cit., 553. 
549. 
Ihid., 550 ff. ; Colonel Donovan’s account, in Ohio Archaeologioal and Historical 
Qruirterly, XXX, 330, 331. 
Villard, op cit., 554 ff. ; Colonel Donovan, in Ohio Archaeological and Historical 
Quarterly, XXX, 331 ff. 
Ihid., ,294. See for statement of Murat Halstead, who was present. The writer 
once asked Colonel Donovan about this story. He said that nothing of the kind 
happened, that no negro or other sentimental person could have come near to John 
Brown on that occasion. The Colonel’s memoranda of everything were complete, and 
being present he would have been sure to see and record such an incident. 
