JOHN BROWN'S LAST LETTER
BY CLARENCE S. GEE
John Brown, of Harper's Ferry fame, sat
in his
prison cell in Charlestown, Virginia
(now West Vir-
ginia) on the morning of December 2nd,
1859, well
aware that he had not long to live. His
trial had re-
sulted in a verdict against him and he
was sentenced to
die on this date. In papers recently
restored to the files
of the Circuit Court in Charlestown we
find the original
verdict:
We the Jury find the defendant John.
Brown, the prisoner at
the Bar guilty of Treason, advising and
conspiring with slaves
and others to rebel & for murder in
the first degree--
J. C. Wiltshire--foreman
He had about completed his
arrangements. On the
previous day his wife had been
permitted to visit him
for a brief time. She had come all the
way from their
home in the Adirondacks, North Elba,
New York, and
now awaited the further sad
developments. Brown's
will had been drawn, a codicil was
added, and other
matters cared for. Finding he still had
time left to him,
he wrote one more letter. This was his
last letter, and
was written to an old friend, Lora
Case, in Hudson,
Ohio. There is always interest in
"last" words.
Various material has been presented as
John
Brown's "last work." F. B.
Sanborn in his Life and
Letters of John Brown, page 617, speaks of a codicil to
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