They were New England Yankees. Thatcher had been to
college, and was studying law. Dunlap had been a business man in
Connecticut, and was a friend of John Brown, who was then on his way
to Kansas.
"The Missouri Compromise has been repealed," said Thatcher, his eyes
shining, "and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill has thrown the fertile state of
Kansas into the ring to be fought for by free-state men and pro-slavery
men. The Border Ruffians of Missouri are breaking the law every day by
going over into Kansas, never meaning to live there only long enough to
vote, and are corrupting the state government. They are corrupting it by
violence and illegal voting. If slavery wins in Kansas and Nebraska, it
will control the Union forever. The greatest battle in our history is
about to be fought out in Kansas, a battle to see whether this nation
shall be a slave nation, in every state and every town, or free. Dunlap
and I and thousands of others are going down there to take the state of
Kansas into our own hands, peacefully if we can, by violence if we must.
We are willing to die to make the United States a free nation. Come
with us!"
"But we don't expect to die," urged Dunlap, seeing that this looked
pretty serious to me. "We expect to live, and get farms, and make homes,
and prosper, after we have shown the Border Ruffians the muzzles of
those rifles. Thatcher, bring the passengers in!"
3
Thatcher went out of the room the back way.
"We call this a station," went on Dunlap, "because it's a stopping-place
on the U.
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