Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1901 — Lincoln and John Brown. [ARTICLE]

Lincoln and John Brown.

A Kansas paper says an old citizen of that state attended a meeting held at Atchison in 1869 at which Mr. Lincoln made a speech. According to this old citizen, some one in the audience asked, “How about John Brown,” who had been hanged a few days before, to which Mr. Lincoln replied; “He was hanged and he deserved it. I don’t know much about Brown’s history ‘in Kansas, but John Brown violated the laws of his country, and Governor Wise did right in hanging him.” Whether Mr. Lincoln actually said this, it is impossible to decide. The memories of old men play them sad tricks sometimes. They sincerely believe often that they heard at. first hand what they may have heard at second hand, or may not have heard at all. But whatever Mr. Lincoln may have said or thought of the execution of John Brown, he certainly disapproved of what John Brown did at Harper’s Ferry.—Chicago Tribune.