[73] time fired his piece. The next moment Stuart's sword had entered his skull, and the desperate outlaw was stretched bleeding. The other insurgents were quickly secured; and the liberated citizens, who had held up their hands to designate themselves to the marines, and thus escape their fire, were hailed with shouts of congratulation as they passed out of the building. While suffering from a wound supposed to be mortal, Brown made the following admissions to Governor Wise of Virginia:
I never had more than twenty-two men about the place at one time; but had it so arranged, that I could arm, at any time, fifteen hundred men with the following arms: two thousand Sharp's rifles, two hundred Maynard's revolvers, one thousand spears. I would have armed the whites with the rifles and revolvers, and the blacks with the spears; they not being sufficiently familiar with other arms. I had plenty of ammunition and provisions, and had a good right to expect the aid of from two to five thousand men, at any time I wanted them. Help was promised me from Maryland, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Canada. The blow was struck a little too soon. The passing of the train on Sunday night did the work for us; that killed us. I only regret that I have failed in my designs; but I have no apology to make or concession to ask now. Had we succeeded, when our arms and funds were exhausted by an increasing army, contributions would have been levied on the slaveholders, and their property appropriated to defray expenses and carry on the war of freedom.On the 2d of December, 1859, having been tried at Charleston, Virginia, and condemned, Brown was conducted to the gallows, and there, in sight of the beautiful country, a portion of which he had hoped one day to possess, he suffered the extreme penalty of the law. He died with the unnatural firmness of a fanatic-but as many in the North interpreted it, with the exalted courage of a martyr. It had been said in some Northern newspapers that the John Brown raid and its expiation would have a good effect in opening the eyes of the people to the crime and madness of Abolition doctrines. But subsequent events were quite to the contrary. The Northern elections of the next month showed no diminution in the Black Republican vote. The manifestations of sympathy for John Brown could not be contained, and took place openly in many of the Northern cities and towns. Upon the day appointed for his execution, a motion for adjournment, out of respect to the sacredness of the day, was lost in the State Senate of Massachusetts by only three votes; while in many of the towns the bells of the churches were tolled, and congregations assembled to consecrate the memory of their hero. The body was carried to North Elba in New York, and after it was unsigned to the grave, many of the New England clergy allotted
