=The Wakarusa War, 1855.= These were not the only events occurring in the Territory. It had become evident early in the fall of 1855 that with the people divided into these two groups, each governing itself and denying the authority of the other, there would be a conflict. The proslavery people had committed several outrages that added to the irritation of the free-state people, but the real trouble came with the murder of a free-state man. This brought on what was called the Wakarusa War. =The Beginning of the Trouble.= A proslavery man named Coleman shot and killed a young free-state man named Dow. This occurred about ten miles south of Lawrence. Coleman then fled to Westport, Missouri, where he appealed for protection to a man named Jones, who, although he lived in Missouri and was the postmaster at Westport, had been appointed by the “Bogus Legislature” as sheriff of Douglas County. Jones was a border ruffian of the lowest and most dangerous type, and had made himself obnoxious to the free-state people by his leadership in the fraudulent elections. =The Arrest of Branson.= In the meantime a friend of Coleman declared that his life was threatened by Jacob Branson, an old man with whom young Dow had made his home. Thereupon Sheriff Jones arrested Branson, but a party of free-state men, indignant because of such high-handed proceedings, rescued him and took him to Lawrence. =Proslavery Hatred of Lawrence.= Of all the settlements in Kansas, Lawrence was the most hated by the proslavery people, for it was the hotbed of free-state principles and the gathering place of those who scorned the Territorial Legislature. There had come to be a general proslavery conviction that nothing less than the destruction of this town could bring them peace and safety. =Sheriff Jones Gathers an Army.= Lawrence had nothing to do with any of this trouble with the sheriff, but when the rescued Branson was taken there it gave the enemy an excuse to threaten the destruction of the town. When his prisoner was taken from him, Jones sent a call to Missouri for help and asked Governor Shannon for three thousand men to “carry out the laws.” The result was that fifteen hundred Missourians assembled for the destruction of Lawrence, and camped on the banks of the Wakarusa River about three miles south of the town. =Lawrence Prepares for Defense.= Meanwhile, although Branson and his rescuers had left Lawrence and there was not a man in the town for whom Jones had a warrant, his army continued to gather, and Lawrence prepared for defense. The surrounding settlers came in and the six hundred men built fortifications and drilled.