=The Severe Winter of 1855-’56.= The Wakarusa War closed in December, 1855. This second winter proved to be an exceedingly severe one, and many of the settlers were not sufficiently protected against the sudden and intense cold. Most of the houses were hastily constructed, one-room log buildings, many of them with dirt floors, and windows and doors of cotton cloth. The storms drifted into these cabins through numberless chinks and cracks in roof and walls. One of the pioneers, writing of that winter, says: “At times, when the winds were bleakest, we went to bed as the only escape from freezing. More than once we awoke in the morning to find six inches of snow in the cabin. To get up, to make one’s toilet under such circumstances, was not a very comfortable performance. Often we had little to eat; the wolf was never far from our door during that hard winter of 1855-’56.” =Preparations for Hostilities.= The struggle of the pioneers with the hardships of winter closed hostilities for a while, but it soon became evident that the Missourians were preparing more extensively than ever to invade Kansas, destroy Lawrence, and drive the free-state people from the Territory, or force them to recognize the proslavery Territorial Government. The free-state people began to gather stores and ammunition and to send calls to the northern states for men and money to meet the situation. [Illustration: TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS. WILSON SHANNON ANDREW H. REEDER JOHN W. GEARY JAMES W. DENVER ROBT. J. WALKER SAMUEL MEDARY] =The Sacking of Lawrence, May 21, 1856.= A number of minor conflicts occurred. Sheriff Jones was wounded, a young free-state man named Barber was killed, and then came the long feared attack upon Lawrence. From the beginning the policy of the free-state people had been to avoid conflict wherever possible. On this occasion they made every attempt to conciliate and to pacify the attacking force, but in vain. As the proslavery leaders rode through the town they were invited to dinner by Mr. Eldridge, the proprietor of the new $20,000 hotel built by the Emigrant Aid Company. They accepted the invitation, and in the afternoon the mob completely demolished the hotel. They threw the two printing presses of the town into the river, ransacked stores and houses, taking whatever they wanted, and before leaving town burned Governor Robinson’s home. The financial loss to Lawrence and the surrounding country was heavy. Though the people had been oppressed and outraged they had not been conquered. By offering no resistance they had robbed the affair of any possible justification in the eyes of the world. [Illustration: JOHN BROWN.]