Ten days before my arrival, a party of ruffians visited the house of a citizen about twelve miles from Atchison, for the purpose of robbery.  The man was supposed to have several hundred dollars in his possession—­the proceeds of a sale of stock.  He had placed his funds in a bank at Leavenworth; but his visitors refused to believe his statement to that effect.  They maltreated the farmer and his wife, and ended by hanging the farmer’s son to a rafter and leaving him for dead.  In departing, they took away all the horses and mules they could find.

Five of these men were arrested on the following day, and taken to Atchison.  The judge before whom they were brought ordered them committed for trial.  On the way from the court-house to the jail the men were taken from the sheriff by a crowd of citizens.  Instead of going to jail, they were carried to a grove near the town and placed on trial before a “Lynch” court.  The trial was conducted with all solemnity, and with every display of impartiality to the accused.  The jury decided that two of the prisoners, who had been most prominent in the outrage, should be hanged on that day, while the others were remanded to jail for a regular trial.  One of the condemned was executed.  The other, after having a rope around his neck, was respited and taken to jail.

On the same day two additional arrests were made, of parties concerned in the outrage.  These men were tried by a “Lynch” court, as their companions had been tried on the previous day.  One of them was hanged, and the other sent to jail.

For some time the civil power had been inadequate to the punishment of crime.  The laws of the State were so loosely framed that offenders had excellent opportunities to escape their deserts by taking advantage of technicalities.  The people determined to take the law into their own hands, and give it a thorough execution.  For the good of society, it was necessary to put a stop to the outrages that had been so frequently committed.  Their only course in such cases was to administer justice without regard to the ordinary forms.

A delegation of the citizens of Atchison visited Leavenworth after the arrests had been made, to confer with General Blunt, the commander of the District, on the best means of securing order.  They made a full representation of the state of affairs, and requested that two of the prisoners, then in jail, should be delivered to the citizens for trial.  They obtained an order to that effect, addressed to the sheriff, who was holding the prisoners in charge.

On the morning of the day following the reception of the order, people began to assemble in Atchison from all parts of the county to witness the trial.  As nearly all the outrages had been committed upon the farmers who lived at distances from each other, the trial was conducted by the men from the rural districts.  The residents of the city took little part in the affair.  About ten o’clock in the forenoon a meeting was called to order in front of the court-house, where the following document was read:—­