556 W. H. Isely In the same collection is also a brief note dated September 25, 1855, from J. M. S. Williams, another very prominent director of the company, in which he says he " encloses a check for one hundred dollars for the Kansas ' Books ' ". Abbott, after securing the order for one hundred rifles from the officers of the Emigrant Aid friends, proceeded to Hartford. Provi- dence, and New York City for the purpose of getting one hundred additional guns, but could ' raise only enough funds to purchase seventeen rifles.^ The entire lot was hurried to Kansas, to be used if need be in the October election for delegates to the Topeka Con- stitutional Convention. = These rifles were intended only to defend the rights of the settlers against Missouri interference. On August 10 Lawrence had written Robinson, approving resistance to bogus laws, but counselled that no resistance should be made to the federal government,^ a policy consistently followed by Robinson and the Boston society throughout the entire struggle. Major Abbott spent several weeks in New York City. On August 18 he wrote Amos Lawrence: I came to this city yesterday and have seen some of the gentlemen to whom I have letters. They all seemed to favor the measure after a little hesitation and I doubt not we shall be able to get something here that will not only strengthen the hearts but the hands of our friends in Kansas.* Greeley, Field. Priestly, Elliot, and Perkins are named as giving assistance. But he seems to have especially interested Frederick Law Olmsted, the well-known writer of antislavery literature, whom he appointed " Acting Commissioner " to raise funds for the Kansas cause, sufficient in amount to purchase another hundred Sharps rifles. Olmsted secured only about four hundred dollars, which, on the advice of a veteran army officer, he invested in a howitzer and some ammunition.' The gtm left New York in October ; it reached Lawrence in December at the beginning of the Wakarusa war. On May 21, 1856, at the sacking of Lawrence, this gun was carried oflf by Captain H. T. Titus and his South Caro- lina men. Captain Samuel Walker, of the Lawrence guards, pledged himself to its recovery within six months' time. Well did he keep his promise. On August 16 he stormed Fort Titus, captured its commander, and then extorted from Governor Shannon a stipulation ' Transactions of the Kansas Historical Society, I.-II. 221. = Ibid. 'Lawrence, Life of Lawrence, pp. gg-ioi. ' Amos A. Lawrence Collection of MS. letters. ^Transactions of the Kansas Historical Society, L-IL 224.
