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
(185)
186 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the will as "undoubtedly the last
work of the old hero
with his pen." He further
suggests, on page 620 of the
same volume, that "possibly the
very last paper written
by John Brown was the sentence, which
he handed to one
of his guards in the jail on the
morning of his execu-
tion:--
Charlestown, Va., 2d December, 1859.
I, John Brown, am now quite certain that
the crimes of this
guilty land will
never be purged away but with Blood. I had as I
now think vainly, flattered myself that
without very much blood-
shed it might be done."
In his Recollections of Seventy
Years, Sanborn pub-
lished the Lora Case letter. In recent
years, as it be-
came more certain that this was really
the "last letter"
of John Brown, interest in it
increased. There were
facsimile copies available, but it was
not known where
the original was located. Several
claims to the posses-
sion of this valuable holograph were
made, but each was
proved false. But the original has been
found, and is
now in the possession of Mr. Thomas F.
Madigan, 2
East 54th Street, New York City.
Before we trace its travels from the
prison cell in
Charlestown to its present ownership,
we present a copy
of the letter itself. It was previously
published in the
Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Quarterly, Vol.
XXX, No. 3, July 1921, p. 284, in an
article by C. B.
Galbreath. It appeared also in the New
York Times,
February 13, 1929, p. 15.
Lora Case and John Brown were devoted
friends.
The Browns and Cases both emigrated to
Hudson, Ohio,
from Connecticut. John Brown came from
Torrington
with his parents in 1805. Lora Case,
son of Chauncey
and Cleopatra (Hayes) Case, came in
1814. He was
John Brown's Last Letter 187 eleven years younger than John. In his "Reminis- cences," Lora Case speaks of his friend: |
|
The first meeting-house in Hudson was a little log structure at the very center of the town. In this building I first went to church and Sunday School, and my first teacher was John Brown, whose soul goes marching on. |
188
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The two remained in close friendship
throughout the
passing years, sharing a mutual hatred
of slavery.
With no thought of the great value that
some day
would attach itself to this
communication, it was never-
theless cherished by appreciative
friends. There were
many persons in Hudson who were deeply
interested in
Brown, and many of his relatives still
lived there at the
time of his execution.
Mr. Case added the following notation
in his own
hand:
I received this letter of
John Brown Dec 10th 1859. Written on the
day of execution.
LORA CASE.
Born Nov 18th 1811.
He also added a photograph of John
Brown on the
upper left-hand corner and one of
himself on the upper
right-hand corner and had these framed
with the letter.
He had six facsimile copies made. One
of these is now
in the possession of Mrs. Mary Case of
Hudson, Ohio.
Mr. F. W. Ashley, assistant librarian of
the Library of
Congress, has stated recently that he
had seen this let-
ter of John Brown to Lora Case hanging
on the wall in
Mr. Case's house in Hudson over forty
years ago.
Lora Case died on July 14, 1897. The
John Brown
letter came into the possession of his
daughter, Mary
E., the wife of Mr. Stiles E. Scott, of
Hudson. The
writer, during his pastorate in Hudson,
often talked
with Mr. Scott about the original
letter to Mr. Case,
and what had become of it. Mr. Scott
was unable
to state definitely what his wife had
done with it. (At
this writing, September 23, 1930, Mr.
Scott is still
living at Hudson). It was thought at
one time that the
letter was owned by Newton B. Hobart,
of the Taft
John Brown's Last Letter 189
School, Watertown, Connecticut. Several years ago
Mr. Hobart was Principal of the Academy
in Hudson.
He has written recently concerning this
question:
As a student and teacher I lived in
Hudson, Ohio, from 1874
to 1892 and during that
time knew intimately Lora Case, to whom
the letter was written. He showed it to
me several times, and
finally, at my request, loaned it to me in order that I
might make
a copy of it. It was probably this incident that gave
rise to a
report that I had the letter, and several people and
some libraries
wrote me about it. I never knew what
disposition was made of
it after Lora Case's death.
It has been revealed that a man by the
name of C.
P. Birge secured the letter from Mrs.
Scott. Mr. Birge
lived as a boy in the Western Reserve,
and was an in-
timate friend of the Case family. His
mother is buried
at Brecksville, Ohio. Mr. Birge later established his
home in Keokuk, Iowa, and thither went
the John
Brown letter. He died in 1903. The
letter then came
into the possession of his daughter,
Mrs. William E.
Praeger, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Much
of this in-
formation is furnished by Mr. Praeger
in a letter to
Harlan N. Wood, now acting Headmaster
of the West-
ern Reserve Academy at Hudson.
Mr. and Mrs. Praeger kept the letter
for many
years. Finally, they decided to part
with it. It was pur-
chased from them by Mr. Madigan, the
present owner
of this American holograph of such
great interest and
significance.
Thus, the last letter of John Brown has
been found
at last.
Delaware, Ohio.
September 23, 1930,