226 
KANSAS. 
Their coming into, instead of going out of, the territory was 
sufficient to show the falsity of such a pretence, and they expressed 
their willingness to answer to any charge before any court. The 
gentlemen preferring to trust their safety in the hands of friends, 
turned a deaf ear to the suggestions of one of the border ruffians, 
“ that they were better off where they were than in the territory; 
for there was a heap of trouble there now, and, from what they 
believed, would be much safer in Parkville.” Some of the more 
respectable people in Parkville interfered, and procured the 
release of Judge Conway and Mr. Schuyler from the ringleaders. 
On the night of the 13th, Mr. Jenkins and G. W. Brown, of 
Lawrence, were taken prisoners by a band of ruffians, half-way 
between Westport and Kansas city, on their way to Lawrence. 
Travelling was unsafe in the territory, bands of these ruffians 
being encamped at many points. About the 18th, armed men 
were camped on the “ Big Stranger,” waiting for the water to 
abate before they could cross with their tw 7 o brass six-pound how¬ 
itzers, and their ammunition and provision wagons. There was 
the camp of desperadoes at Lecompton, and bands of armed men 
infesting the usually travelled route from Lawrence to Kansas 
city. People passing on the highways were stopped, searched, 
and robbed of anything which pleased the invaders. These high¬ 
waymen and freebooters were called into the territory by the 
marshal’s proclamation of the 11th, and their expenses were to 
be defrayed by the general government. Our people were annoyed 
beyond endurance. Their property was destroyed, their lives in 
jeopardy, and their rights trampled upon by these vile minions of a 
viler administration. United States muskets were put in the hands 
of these Carolinians and Alabamians, not one month in the terri¬ 
tory, by Gov. Shannon, thus making himself a tool in the hands 
of the President, to consummate his infamy. The following pass 
is proof positive that Gov. Shannon is implicated in all these 
villanies: 
44 Executive Office, ) 
Lecompton, K. T., May 17, 1856. 5 
“The bearer of this is Jesse Newill, an acquaintance of mine 
from Ohio, who is now in this territory with the view of looking 
