Friday, February 25, 2022

A. P. Shutt to William Preston Smith, November 20, 1859—10:03 a.m.

Harper's Ferry, Nov. 20th, 1859–10.03 A. M.
W. P. Smith:

I arrived on express this morning; found the town in great excitement, expecting from one to two hundred armed men from the West to rescue Brown. The dispatch to me at Cumberland was from J. B. Hoge, asking if they were on my train.

It appears he received a special dispatch from Col. Davis to keep a lookout from that direction. Bellaire is the place they were last heard from. I had but five passengers to get on my train at Benwood, and when I arrived here and they found so few passengers, some were satisfied they had been sold.

I shall use all my efforts to allay the fears of the citizens, as I feel satisfied there is no just cause for it. . .

A. P. SHUTT.

SOURCE: B. H. Richardson, Annapolis, Maryland, Publisher, Correspondence Relating to the Insurrection at Harper's Ferry, 17th October, 1859, p. 42

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