e had heard a voice calling him
to the work of the deliverer; that he would be killed, and that they
must expect also to die the martyr's death, and that henceforth they
must expect only crusts, wounds, bitter enmity, and finally martyrdom. A
little later and Brown had moved the younger children of his family to
North Elba, in the Adirondack woods, that the slaves on the underground
route might be able to hide in the forest, in the event of the pursuers
overtaking them. Brown then began to travel along Mason and Dixon's line
from the city of Washington through to Topeka, Kan. From time to time he
would cross the line, take charge of a little group of slaves, and
hiding by day and travelling by night, carry them from one underground
station to another. It was said that he had personally conducted runaway
slaves along every route for a thousand miles from East to West, between
the Atlantic and the Missouri River.

One of the friends of Brown's childhood was the Hon. James B. Grinnell,
who founded the town and college in Iowa. This congressman loved to tell
the story of the night when John Brown knocked at his door. Outside was
a wagon, packed with slaves, whom Brown had carried across the line from
Missouri. He had driven four horses at their limit of speed for a
hundred miles and had no defenders, save two or three men and as many
guns. "I am a dealer in wool," said the stranger, "and my name is
Captain John Brown of Kansas." The first thing Mr. Grinnell did was to
find a shelter for these slaves, with food and beds. The next thing was
to hide the wagon and the horses in the thick grove near by. Early the
next morning the news spread like wild-fire, and the settlers began to
pour in. John Brown made a speech to the farmers and justified his act.
The villagers were terrified lest the pursuers come any moment and burn
their houses. The three Congregational ministers offered prayers, asked
for help, and started out to raise money. When the night fell the slaves
were rushed to the terminus of the railway and carried through to
Chicago, being shipped in a freight car as sheep, to distinguish their
woolly heads from the goats, named white men.

In 1855 John Brown led his five sons and their families into Kansas, to
help preempt the State for freedom. When at length the free state
voters won an election and enthroned their governor, two thousand
pro-slavery men from Missouri crossed the State line, burned the little
town of La