REDOUBLED EEEORTS FOR A NEW INVASION. 223 
be done peaceably if it can; if not, by Gr— d, it shall be by the 
point of the bowie-knife! 
“ This territory belongs to the South, and, by Gr —d, the South 
will have it! Is not this so, boys? [turning to his posse. 4 It is,’ 
was the response.] You have offered no resistance, and I hope 
that you will not. If you do you will be dealt with in a more 
summary manner. Gentlemen, you are released.” 
Cows and other animals had, for several days, been killed and 
carried off to the camp of the invaders at Lecompton. One free- 
state man was obliged by the ruffians to drive his own cow there, 
where they killed her before his eyes. 
On the evening of the 13th of May, Mr. J. Weaver, assistant 
sergeant at arms of the congressional committee, was returning 
to Lawrence with one of the witnesses whom he had subpoened. 
Not finding his way to the ferry readily, a United States dragoon, 
whom he met, offered to show him the way, and as they came in 
sight of the ferry, they were just upon a camp of one hundred 
men, armed with revolvers, bowie-knives, United States muskets, 
and bayonets. They rode through the camp to the ferry-landing, 
and dismounted. As they did so, several men lying about on the 
ground exclaimed, “ What in the h—11 does that mean? ” 
A crowd from the camp gathered around them, and one, coming 
in front of Mr. Weaver, asked where he was from, and where 
going; to which he replied he had been up north, and was going 
to Lawrence; when one of the ruffians remarked, “ You won’t get 
there very soon.” He then asked “how he was on the goose? ” 
to which he replied, “he was on the right side,” but did not enter 
into any explanations of what, in his estimation, the right side 
might be. This answer raised the ire of the ruffian, and he said 
Mr. Weaver was “ a fit subject to stay with them over night.” 
At this remark a number of the men gathered around with 
muskets in their hands. Another man, who had been talking with 
the dragoon, came up and said to the man, “ It would be better 
not to interfere with Mr. Weaver, as he was in charge of the 
dragoon.” Mr. Weaver then said “he was not in charge of the 
dragoon, but was himself a United States officer,” and to the 
