[314] in the guard house at Harper's Ferry, in which he said that the prisoner stated, in reply to a question, that he thought he had been betrayed to the Secretary of War, but had practised a ruse to prevent suspicion; yet refused to inform them whom he believed to be the traitor, or how he had acted to avert the consequences of the betrayal. John Brown thus alluded to Colonel Forbes and his own third visit to Kansas. During the examination of this witness, a despatch arrived from Cleveland, announcing that Northern counsel would arrive in Charlestown that evening; whereupon the Virginia counsel for John Brown, in his name, asked that the cross-examination might be postponed till the following morning. It was already late in the evening, but the prosecuting attorney resisted the request, because:
If the cases were not pushed on, the whole balance of the term --would not be sufficient to try these men. He thought there was no reason for delay, especially as it was uncertain whether the counsel could get here before--to-morrow!The Court, as usual, ordered the case to proceed. Colonel Washington described his arrest, and testified that Captain Brown permitted his prisoners to keep in a safe position; that he never spoke rudely or insultingly to them; that he allowed them to go out, to quiet their families, by assuring them of their personal safety; that he heard him direct his men, on several occasions, never to fire on an unarmed citizen; that he assured the captives that they should be treated well, and none of their property destroyed; and that he overheard a conversation between Stevens and another
