Murder in any form is abhorrent, but most terribly so when committed under the forms and in the names of law and justice.
Wendell Phillips said that John Brown would have had twice as good a right to hang Governor Wise as Governor Wise had to hang John Brown.
All we are asking and insisting upon is that our accused brothers shall have the protection of the law, a fair hearing and just verdict, and upon that issue we are prepared to go before the American people.
Respectfully yours,
Eugene V. Debs.
December 2, 1859
Appeal to Reason, November 23, 1907
This is the immortal date upon which John Brown was led to execution. Louisa M. Alcott on that day christened him “Saint John the Just.” On that same day Longfellow wrote: “This will be a great day in our history; the date of a new revolution, quite as much needed as the old one. Even now, as I write, they are leading Old John Brown to execution in Virginia for attempting to rescue slaves! This is sowing the wind to reap the whirlwind, which will come soon.”
How prophetic these words!
Within a month the mutterings of the storm were heard in the land, and within a few months it broke forth in all its fury.