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Wilberforce Jones Got Rifle and Was Ready for Harper’s Ferry—Brown Thought Him “Far Too Young.” HIS FATHER AND BROWN WERE BOON COMPANIONS Used to Come Home “Battered Up” After Hot Fight Over “Pro-Slavery.” Pemeta, Okla, Aug. 10.— John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave,” but his spirit is living today in Wilberforce Jones, an oil field at torney and former head of the G. A. R. of this state, who as a lad ran away from home with the intention of accompanying “Ossawatomie” Brown on his trip to capture the arsenal at Harper's Ferry and to free the negroes. It was only because Jones’ father and Brown had been neighbors in Kansas during the early territorial days that Brown insisted upon the boy's returning home. Brown knew that the boy’s spirit had been fired as a result of listening to the words of Pomeroy, Lane and the other leaders in Kansas at that time, and he understood too that while they were Abolitionists of the superlative brand yet they did not approve of his campaign against tarper's a Ferry. It took all of Brown's persuasive powers to induce the boy to turn back. Wilberforce Jones had come west ward to Kansas territory when the great Abolitionist wave swept over the country following the Kansas-Ne braska Bill's introduction in congress by Henry Clay. The anti-slavery leaders flocked to the new territory from all sections of the north and east to defend it against the spread of slavery. Among them came William H. (“Abolitionist”) Jones from Michigan, John Brown from Maine, A. C. Pome roy, James Lane and hundreds of others, all fired with the one ambi tion to keep Kansas free territory. And the Jones home in what is now Brown county was one of the prin cipal assembling places of these men. It was no wonder that the lad was determined to follow his father's most intimate friend, even though the trip meant certain death to all who par ticipated. Remembers Conferences, Bright in the memory of Wibber force Jones are the conferences be tween his father and “Ossawatomie” Brown. A favorite conference place was the wood pile. Here the boy could sit for hours at a time, hearing the two men discuss the political is sues of that period, outlining plans to defeat the pro-slavery men and arguing Brown's proposed campaign to free the negroes. Jones’ father was always against Brown's proposi tion, but the fiery words of the neigh bor impressed the boy until he was ready to shoulder a musket and fol low him “I was well acquainted as a boy with John Brown,” said Wilberforce Jones recently, “We had come from Cass County, Mich, in 1862 and located in the territory of Kansas along with many other Abolitionists, who were determined that the Kan sas-Nebraska bill's provisions per mitting slavery in Kansas should not be permitted. Brown came from Maine, and he was one of our nearest neighbors. There was not a foot of railroad in Kansas at that time and not a foot of telegraph line of any kind, but the buffaloes, coyotes and Indians were plentiful. “Brown was a frequent visitor in our home, and just prior to going to Virginia in 1858 he begged father to accompany him. He laid before father his plans to capture the Harper's Ferry arsenal and arm the negroes. They had many conferences, but father always opposed the plan. He told Brown that he could not aford to ve to leave his wife and four boys and go on the proposed expedition, and further argued that if Brown cap tured or attempted to capture Har per's Ferry he would be compelled to fire on the American flag, which, under the American Constitution and laws, would be treason. This was a crime, father declared, that he did not propose to be a party to. “Brown, however, did go to Virginia as he had planned, did capture the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and was himself captured, tried for treason and executed in 1859.” Went w Polls to Fight. The early day elections in Kansas were always bloody affairs as remem bered by Wilberforce Jones. He says that his father and John Brown would always come home “battered and beaten up” as a result of fighting with the pro-slavery advocates at the polls. “I can remember well their discus sions upon their return home,” he says, ‘of how attempts were made to carry the elections with shotguns and rifles. It was the day of border war fare, both sides being determined to win.” Both the Joneses, father and son, enlisted in the Union army when the war between the states started. The boy joined Company C, Seventh Kan sas cavalry, and served throughout the war, while his father commanded Company B, First United States Col ored regiment. This negro regiment was organized at Fort Scott, Kan., in 1863, following the emancipation of the slaves, with a man of the name of Williams as colonel. “Abolitionist’’ Jones had helped in the organization and was made captain of Company B. This regiment remained in the ser vice until the war's close.
Newspaper Details
Ogden Examiner
Ogden, Utah, US
Wed, Aug 11, 1915
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 29 Aug 2026
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