the day. William Thompson, with the wounded Stevens, was now a captive in the hotel. Mad with the desire to revenge Beckham's death,* the mob, headed by George W. Chambers, the saloon-keeper, and Harry Hunter, of Charlestown, attempted to make way with him in the hotel itself. A brief respite was secured to Thompson by a Miss Christine Fouke, who begged that his life be spared, from the mixed motive, as she afterwards explained, of a desire to have the law take its course and to save the house from becoming the scene of an outrage! 36 What happened then was narrated by Harry Hunter during John Brown's trial, in answer to a question from his father, Andrew Hunter, the special prosecutor on behalf of the State:

"After Mr. Beckham, who was my grand-uncle, was shot, I was much exasperated, and started with Mr. Chambers to the room where the second Thompson was confined, with the purpose of shooting him. We found several persons in the room, and had leveled our guns at him, when Mrs. Fouke's sister threw herself before him, and begged us to leave him to the laws. We then caught hold of him, and dragged him out by the throat, he saying: 'Though you may take my life, 80,000,000 † will arise up to avenge me, and carry out my purpose of giving liberty to the slaves.' We carried him out to the bridge, and two of us, leveling our guns in this moment of wild exasperation, fired, and before he fell, a dozen or more balls were buried in him; we then threw his body off the trestlework, and returned to the bridge to bring out the prisoner Stevens, and serve him in the same way; we found him suffering from his wounds, and probably dying; we concluded to spare him, and start after others, and shoot all we could find. I had just seen my loved uncle and best friend I ever had, shot down by those villainous Abolitionists, and felt justified in shooting any that I could find; I felt it my duty, and I have no regrets."

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William Thompson was shot by Chambers and Hunter with their revolvers at his head, and thrust through the open space between the roadway and the side of the bridge. As he lay

Mr. Beckham's friendliness to the negro appears from the fact that at the time of his death he was aiding one, Isaac Gilbert, to purchase the freedom of his wife and three children. As if foreseeing a sudden death, the mayor had made a will insuring the freedom of these four slaves, whom he had purchased in order to facilitate their liberation. See Will Book No. 16, p. 142, Jefferson County Court Records, Charlestown, West Virginia.

† Other reports quote Thompson as having said "80,000."

in the shallow water below, he, too, was riddled with bullets. The body, says a local historian, "could be seen for a day or two after, lying at the bottom of the river, with his ghastly face still exhibiting his fearful death agony." 38 Making all due allowance for the naturally intense indignation aroused by the killing of so universally beloved a man as Mayor Beckham, and for the horrors of the day, the killing of Thompson was none the less a disgrace to the State of Virginia. It loses nothing of its barbarity with the lapse of years. It is a pleasure, however, to record that the best public sentiment of Harper's Ferry and Charlestown has always condemned the act. This crime must also in part be offset by Brua's readiness to risk his life on behalf of Stevens, and by other highminded acts on the part of the citizens. Yet it remains in striking contrast to the kindliness and courtesy with which John Brown treated his prisoners, in keeping with the dictates of the Chatham Constitution and with his own character. This generous treatment was freely acknowledged by his prisoners, one of whom, J. E. P. Daingerfield, declined to attend John Brown's execution, because "he had made me a prisoner, but had spared my life and that of other gentlemen in his power; and when his sons were shot down beside him, almost any other man similarly situated would have exacted life for life." 39

Just after Mr. Beckham's death, there arrived, to add to the excitement, a sturdy Martinsburg company, composed largely of employees of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Headed by Captain E. G. Alburtis, they very nearly ended the conflict, for they boldly marched through the armory yard from the rear, thus cutting off Brown's only remaining avenue of escape, and engaged the raiders at close range, driving them into the engine house, during which manoeuvre the company lost eight of its men by wounds. "During the fight," Captain Alburtis narrated afterwards,

"we found in the room adjoining the engine-house some thirty or forty prisoners who had been captured and confined by the outlaws. The windows were broken open by our party, and these men escaped. The whole of the outlaws were now driven into the enginehouse, and owing to the great number of wounded requiring our care, and not being supported by the other companies as we ex

pected, we were obliged to return. Had the other companies come up, we could have taken the engine-house then. Immediately after we drew off, there was a flag of truce sent out to propose terms, which were that they should be permitted to retire across the river with their arms, and, I think, proceed as far as some lock on the canal, there to release their prisoners. These terms were not acceded to, and having understood that the United States marines and a number of troops from Baltimore were on their way, nothing further was done except to establish guards all around to prevent the desperadoes from escaping. We had a small piece of cannon, which we proposed to bring to bear on the engine-house, but were directed not to do so on account of endangering the prisoners.'

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These captives were later a convenient excuse to explain the militia's shortcomings. Immediately after the arrival of the Martinsburg company, other troops began to pour in. Itself, like the second Charlestown company, organized on the spur of the moment, the Martinsburg organization was followed by two Shepherdstown, Virginia, militia companies, the Hamtramck Guards and the Shepherdstown Troop, which, however, accomplished but little. At dusk three companies from Frederick, Maryland, appeared; they were the first uniformed troops to report. They, too, added to the noise and confusion of the streets, but were of little or no avail. For all practical purposes, John Brown and his handful of men had beaten off the several hundred armed citizens and militia who had come to capture him, living or dead. Later in the evening a Winchester company arrived, as did five Baltimore militia companies, which did not enter the town from Sandy Hook until morning.42 Governor Wise and Company F of Richmond arrived five hours after the engine house was taken.

The record of the tragedies of the 17th of October at Harper's Ferry is not complete with the violent deaths of Beckham and William Thompson. On the Shenandoah, John Brown's outposts in the rifle works were slain or captured at about the same hour that the arsenal garrison was finally driven into the engine house. Kagi's early morning requests that the town be evacuated having met with no consideration at John Brown's hands, he and his men, hungry, isolated and menaced by more and more armed men, continued to obey orders and stick to their posts in true soldierly fashion. But