"The Grossest Outrage Ever Perpetrated": Sheriff Jones and the Sack of Lawrence

Pro slavery supporters gained control of the territorial government in Kansas but free state supporters claimed election fraud and set up their own legislature with their own officials. Lawrence, Kansas was viewed as the center of the illegal free state activities, though the legislature met in Topeka. On May 21st, 1856, Sheriff Samuel Jones, a proslavery supporter, entered the town of Lawrence to serve "writs" issued by the U. S. District Court at Lecompton. Jones had been directed to destroy the newspaper offices and the Eldridge House. However, widespread desctruction occurred, leaving the residents destitute. This podcast features a letter from G. W. Brown, who wrote to his mother anticipating an attack and his possible death, a description of the Sack of Lawrence by Oscar Learnard, an appeal for help from free state supporters in the East, and a letter E. S. Whitney to her uncle proclaiming her determination to support the free state cause. Musical selections performed by The Free Staters (www.thefreestaters.com) and Curly Miller and Carole Anne Rose (http://theold78s.com/).