Historian uncovers new details in Brown's saga

摘要

When John Brown was hanged (for the first time, but more on that later), church bells tolled in Vermont, which had more of a connection to the abolitionist than might be imagined. Brown's body passed through western Vermont on its way to burial near Lake Placid, N.Y., with souvenir hunters cutting off slivers of the coffin with their pocketknives. Vermont was anti-slavery, but not totally so. The Vermont minister who crossed Lake Champlain by moonlight to deliver Brown's eulogy returned to find himself dismissed from his post by offended parishioners.rnA recent newspaper find by historian Howard Coffin reveals that Brown also appeared before the Vermont governor in 1857 asking for a $20,000 government grant to fight slavery-a fund for anti-slavery efforts in Kansas apparently did exist at the time.