The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 20, 1899, Page 21

P AP OO NN 4 gre and cli is like nd washed of the seas. It s of rough- ming a 1dow, bird, man or part of through w1l may enter s or bars. sw in num- do duty anty gro- rubbing el et D paneless dP P s e dway ‘twixt ceil- against the chim- HEEAEDp e {th the scent of wround the rosy with -me-nots, roses and of the gardens of cultivated. A z yed calf share ymain with him. The dog s his opher, but the calf is It follows him around s doing its best fo reach that its master may o ot P e S o Jason Brown came t n C nia. For a twelve- guonth he baliny climate prolonged his life-time birds and . Mr. Brown about his alr 1ply as one n ship. He of the searchers in Seventy-six years ightly dimmed Jason Brown's ., but they have not clouded his brain. A youth who next year gets his sheep- gkin from the college of chemi the University of Cz found he had to put his best scientific foot forward to keep pace with Jason Brown. Although his mode of Iiving is rough his manner of speech is the straight- forward one of the gentlemen of his generation. Brought up on the horder line, he has the hospitality of the South and the stern will of the North. His family took an active part in the border warfare waged between Kansas and Missourf. One of his brothers was atrociously murdered in the first of the sgerimmages and another driven Insane by cruel treatment when taken pris- aner. Jith the tale-of his father's life and He- s told in song and story how with n white men and four negroes old toék possession® of the armory buildings at stopped rallroad trains, al slay captured a ding citizens and held n for about thirty hours. Then tobert E. Lee, soon to be him- ander-in-chief of an in- h a detachment of United captured them, killing . John Brown saw two more ons fall dead, but not until he fired his last shot was he cap- They tried and hanged him, but o1 had tured though Brown's body lles a-moldering tn the «John rave, His soul goes marching on. Jason Brown was not with his father at Harpers Ferry. He had not yet re- covered from a wound received in-an- other scrimmage. -The Browns were d-out abolitionists. They boldly ired their anti-slavery convictions, which meant that they had to be con- stantly on the defensive. £ One night a squad of “border ruf- flans” came upon Jason Brown and a companion. He was recognized as a friend of the slaves and fired upon. His companion escaped into the woods, but Jason, slightly wounded, was cap- tured. Among the “border ruffians,” as the invaders were called, were hot-headed Southerners of birth and breeding. They bound his wounds and, pale and weak from loss of blood, stood him up for a mock trial. To declare himself an abolitionist meant certain death. Yet without faltering Jason Brown de- clared that he belleved God hated slav- ery and that as long as he had breath in his body he would help destroy it. A rope! a rope! they cried in hoarse verdict. The knot was tled and a mo- ment more and all would have been over. Then the furfous beating of hoofs and a breathless messenger hands a note to the leader of the band. reads it, hesitates g gecond, then £lips the noose and gives Jason Brown his freedom. J John Brown of his son’s capture, Brown recognized in the description of the leader & young Kentuckian to whom he had been of great service and who owed him a debt of gratitude. The ger arrived just in time to allow {entuckian to save John Brown's m hanging. But the score was never chalked ug even between them. Three years latel through the dead and the dying a sol- dier in blue carried on his back an of- ficer in Confederate gray. Through the battlefleld that ran red with blood he bore him, and across the thicket to a hut, where he nursed him back to life. The Union soldier was Jason Brown. The Confederate officer was the Ken- tuckian. . The stings of his many sorrows have not come home to live in Jason Brown’s heart, nor has the milk of kindness curdled. He is strong in hope and faith and full of the pride befitting the son of John Brown. 3 The colle student raffled one of John Brown's revolvers at Loch Lo- mond. It netted fifteen dollars, which he straightway carried to him. More- over, his story, told for the first time, moved the hearts of hotel guests, and about twenty -of them Immeadiately banded together, each agreeing to give 25 cents a month. The gecretary is go- ing to send that and as much more money as he can collect to Jason Brown every month. He cannot refuse it for he will not know whence it comes. . Jason Brown thinks he will ba able to pay -off the three hundred dollars still due on his land. He often carries sixty pounds on his back the three miles from Loch Lomond to his cabin, his faithful dog leading the way up the steep trail. His 1s a wonderful strength for 76 years.. But his neighbors shake their heads and predict that it will not last long enough for him to work off the debt at a dollar and a quarter a day. If JasoN to Mr. Fanning, Brown’s heroic been in vain. In the East they are prepar- ing to dig up John Brown's body and those of his two sons who were with him at Harpers Ferry. They will be reburfed with fitting ceremontes, Presi- dent McKinley lending his offi- clal dignity to the occaston. In the West is a living son of John Brown worthy of his father. It may be that & gen- erous hand will reach out to him and let him cultivate his mountain land debt free. Then sweet, blind Alice can have her volce trained and Jason and Jason struggle has Brown, son of John Brown, taste the sweets of fulfllled JASON BROWNS CABIN,EXTERIOR, ViEw BroOWN - SAVING THE CONFEDERATE . OFFICER.,