Lawrence, Kansas Massacre
New York Times Article August 24, 1863
LEAVENWORTH, Monday, Aug. 24.
The Conservative publishes the following account of the Lawrence massacre from one of its editors, just returned from the ruins:
We arrived in Lawrence at 7 o'clock. Flying rumors had painted a terrible picture, but the reality exceeded the reports.
We found Massachusetts-street one mass of smouldering ruins and crumbling walls, the light from which cast a sickening glare upon the little knots of excited men and distracted women, gazing upon the ruins of their once happy homes and prosperous business. Only two business-houses were left upon this street -- one known as the Armory, and the other as the old Miller block.
About 125 houses, in all, were burned, and only one or two escaped, being ransacked, and everything of value carried away or destroyed.
Six or eight soldiers, who camped upon this side of the river, and who fired across at every rebel who appeared upon the bank, deferred the cowards from destroying some of the houses near the ferry, and from cutting down the flag-pole. The force of the rebels is variously estimated from 250 to 400.
Reliable parties place it at 300. Their every act during their stay in the city was characterized by the most cowardly barbarism. They entered the town on the gallop, firing into every house, and when the occupants appeared at the door they were shot down like dogs. Five bodies, burned to a crisp, lay near the ruins of the Eldridge House. They could not be recognized. Eighteen out of twenty-two unarmed recruits, encamped south of the town, were murdered in their tents. Their bodies lay in the colored church when we arrived. Messrs. TRASK, Dr. GRISWOLD, BAKER and THORP, were shot down in the yard of Dr. GRISWOLD, before the eyes of their families. Judge CARPENTER was wounded in his yard, and tell, when his wife and sister threw themselves upon his body, begging for mercy, but to no avail. The fiends dismounted, stuck their pistols between the persons of his protectors, and fired.
Miss STONE, daughter of the proprietor of the City Hotel, had a diamond ring stolen from her finger. QUANTRELL obliged the man to restore it. In revenge for this the ruffians afterward came back and shot her father before the mother's eyes. They also tried to kill Miss STONE.
Gen. COLLAMORE went into his well to hide, and the bad air killed him. His son and PAT. KEEPE lost their lives trying to get the father out.
The life of District-Attorney RIGGS was saved by the heroism of his wife, who seized the bridle of the rebel's horse, who attempted to shoot him as he ran.
Several cases of remarkable bravery of women were related to us. The wife of Sheriff BROWN three successive times put out the fire kindled to burn the house. Her husband was hidden under the floor. The house was saved by her heroism.
The offices of the Journal, Tribune and Republican, were of course leveled to the ground. JOHN SPEER, Jr., of the Tribune, started for his home from the office after the rebels came in. Mr. MURDOCH, a printer in the office, tried to induce him to accompany him into a well near by for safety, but he would do nothing but go home to defend the house, which he did, and was killed. MURDOCH went into the well and was saved. A younger son of JOHN SPEER, Sen., killed a rebel and left. The guests at the Eldridge House were ordered out, their rooms pillaged, and some of the people shot. Two men from Ohio were wounded there, and are now in this city. Only the presence and peremptory orders of QUANTRELL prevented the massacre of all the occupants after they had been marched out on the street.
The rebels were told that there was a negro baby still in the house, but they said, "We will burn the G -- d d -- n little brat," and they did. We saw its chaired remains, burned black as the heart of its murderers. The books of the County and District Clerks were burned, but those of the Register of Deeds were in the safe, and are supposed to have been saved. Every safe in the city but two were robbed. In the Eldridge store, JAMES ELDRIDGE and JAMES PERRINE gave the rebels all the money in the safe, and were instantly shot down. All the hotels were destroyed, except the City Hotel. The loss in cash is estimated at $250,000, and in property and all at $2,000,000. That is a low enough estimate.
The number of bodies, up to the time we left, was 113, of which about 20 were burned so badly as to render recognition impossible. There were a large number of strangers in town, and when the entire loss is ascertained we think it will reach 150 killed. Many were, doubtless, killed by the rebel pickets in the brush.
The people have not yet recovered from the terrible blow sufficiently to appreciate the full force of their desolation; and when they do recover from the shock, many more will doubtless be missing.
We have seen battle-fields and scenes of carnage and bloodshed, but have never witnessed a spectacle so horrible as that seen among the smouldering ruins at Lawrence. No fighting, no resistance -- cold-blooded murder was there.
We give below a list of seventy-six killed, and several wounded:
The fiends finished their murderous work in nearly every case. The list is all white men. A few negroes were killed, but we did not get their names: John Fromley, J.C. Trask, of the State Journal; Gen. G.W. Collamer and son, James Eldridge, Jas. Perrine, Joseph Eldridge, Joseph Lowe, Dr. Griswold, druggist; Wm. Williamson, Deputy Marshal; S.M. Thorp, State Senator; Judge Lewis Carpenter, John Speer, Jr., of Kansas Tribune; Nathan Stone, City Hotel; Mr. Brant, Mr. West, Thomas Murphy, Mr. T. Fitch, bookbinder at the Journal office; E.P. Fitch, bookseller; Chas. Palmer, of the Journal; Lemuel Gilmore, James O'Neal, John Doyle, D.C. Allison, the firm of Duncan & Allison; J.Z. Evans, Levi Gates, George Burt, Samuel Jones, George Coates, John B. Gill, Ralph E. Dix, Stephen Dix, Capt. George W. Ball, County Clerk; John C. Cornell, A. Kridmiller, George Albrecht, S. Dunnski, Robert Martin, Olis Longley, John W. Lowrie, William Lowrie, James Roach, Michael Meeking, Louis Wise and infant, Joseph Batchelbauer, August Ellis, Dennis Murphy, Jonn K. Zimmerman, Cart Enzler, George Range, Samuel R[???]arge, Jacob Pollok, Fred. Klaus, Fred. Kimball, Dwight Colman, Mr. Carle, Daniel McClellan, Rev. S.S. Snyder, Samuel Reynolds, Geo. Garrard, A.W. Griswold, Chas. Kev, Chas. Amen, Jas. Wilson, Chas. Riggen, A.J. Woods, Chas. Anderson, W.B. Griswold, A.C. Cooper, Asbury Markle, David Markle, Lewis Markle, Aaron Holdeman, Addison Fraugh.
Wounded -- H.W. Baker, Dennis Boyman, G.H. Sargent, mortally; G. Smith, H. Hays, M. Haneson, Mr. Livingston.
Persons just from Lawrence report that the number of dead will reach 170, perhaps 200, as bodies are constantly being found.
The excitement throughout the State is intense and our citizens unanimously regard the Lawrence massacre as a legitimate rule of the SCHOFIELD-EWING policy in Missouri and Kansas.
When last heard from, Gen. LANE was at Hickman's Mills, Missouri, with half-clothed, half-armed men in pursuit. He attacked QUANTRELL about 10 miles south of Lawrence, and kept up a running fight with him Missouri, killing up to this time 19 of the rebels.
Maj. PLUMB was at Blue, not five miles east of Lawrence, when QUANTRELL left the town; he failed to aid LANE. Reports say PLUMB's men denounced him for declining to attack QUANTRELL, who offered him battle at one point near Ottowa. LANE headed off QUANTRELL. The rebels turned and charged on PLUMB, and drove him for about a mile.
EWING had a telegraph from his Adjutant, at Kansas City, the night before the attack on Lawrence, but did not leave here until 2 o'clock P.M. the next day. He then went to Desoto Ferry, about 25 miles south of this place, and 10 miles east of Lawrence. At noon on Saturday he was only 10 miles south of Desoto. He ought to have taken the steamer Emelu, which was at our levee, and then leaving at the late hour he did, he could have overtaken QUANTRELL, and with all fresh men and horses, he could have captured him.