GENERAL DISCOMFORT — MURDER OF DOW. 107 
nap, in order to be prepared for any emergency which might arise, 
I again fell asleep, leaving my husband thinking over the matter 
by the parlor stove, and was awakened again, as the sun was 
rising, by the screams of cayotes in the distance. The first im¬ 
pression was that the Missourians had come. The facts of the 
rescue are these : The people of Hickory Point yesterday held 
the proposed meeting in reference to the murder of How, and 
passed resolutions condemning the wanton outrage, and that Cole¬ 
man should be brought to justice. He, in the mean time, had 
gone to Gov. Shannon, at the Shawnee Mission, for protection. 
He was there taken into custody by Samuel J. Jones, who, it will 
be remembered, was engaged in the burning of two settlers’ 
houses at Lecompton, on the pretence that the claims were his, 
while he is a citizen and acting postmaster at Westport, Mo. 
This pretence of taking Coleman into custody was done without 
any warrant being issued, or examination had. 
On yesterday morning a peace-warrant was made out by Hugh 
Cameron, of Lawrence, at the instigation of Bradley, a pro¬ 
slavery man living at Hickory Point, against Jacob Branson, the 
friend of the murdered How, and was placed in the hands of 
Jones. In the evening, after Mr. Branson, with his family, had 
retired, Jones, with a party of mounted men, rode up to his lone 
cabin upon the prairies, a half-mile from neighbors. He knocked 
at the door. To the question, “ Who is there ? ” the reply was 
given, “ A friend.” “ Come in, then,” was the response, and the 
little cabin was full of men —rough, savage, armed men. Jones 
went to the bedside, and, presenting his pistol to Branson’s breast, 
said, “ You are my prisoner.” 
Mr. Branson asked, “ By what authority? ” 
Oaths, and the threat, “ I will blow you through,” were the 
decisive answer. The others, with guns cocked, gathered around, 
and took him prisoner. Thus, in the night, was an innocent, 
defenceless man taken from his home and family by a gang of 
twenty-five whiskey-drinking ruffians, showing no papers of arrest, 
and answering with oaths and threats of instant death any ques¬ 
tions as to the cause of such summary, unlawful proceedings. 
They proceeded to Buckley’s house, and, after stopping a while, by 
