246 
KANSAS. 
pounder, the yells were terrific. By all who listened, it is averred 
they never before had heard such unearthly sounds. Some kegs 
of powder were carried into the cellar; for “ law and order ” was 
not blind, and the continued display of plunder gained by others 
of the mob excited their covetousness, and a more summary way 
of “ removing the nuisance ” was desired. The result was only a 
little smoke, and the shivering of a few windows. The order was 
then given to the military commander, Col*. Titus, just arrived 
from Florida, to fire the building. By setting fires in each of 
the rooms, the large hotel was destroyed, nearty the entire wall 
falling in. 
At the commencement of the cannonading, Jones had been asked. 
“ Can you feel no pity for the sufferings you have caused ?” 
His reply was, “ The laws must be executed.” And, turning to 
two of his posse, he said, “ Gentlemen, this is the happiest day of 
my life, I assure you. I determined to make the fanatics bow 
before me in the dust, and kiss the territorial laws.” 
Then, as another round was fired, with a bitter, scornful sneer 
he said, “ I have done it, by G—d ! I have done it! ” 
When the walls of the hotel had fallen in, he turned to his 
posse and said, coolly, “You are dismissed ; the writs have been 
executed.” 
This was the signal for a general plunder of private houses, and 
as the drunken gang rushed from place to place, they took any¬ 
thing of value upon which their eyes fell. They rifled trunks, 
taking letters, money, drafts, apparel, both ladies and gentlemen’s, 
and destroyed anything that would break, even to daguerreotypes 
and children’s toys. Before the day was over, many of the citi¬ 
zens recognized, upon the before ragged persons of the militia, a 
hat, coat, vest, or pair of pantaloons, to which they had had pre¬ 
vious title, with some of the heavy curtain-cords and tassels, taken 
from the hotel, worn around them in lieu of sashes; and, with ex¬ 
pensive silk or satin dresses on their arms, they marched about, 
evidently elated with their transformation. In many houses, 
whatever they left was mutilated and defaced, and the people, on 
returning to their homes, found only a wreck of those things which 
had condr^ed to their comfort. Stores were broken open. Letters 
