=413. Occupation of Kansas.=—Now began a race for the settlement of the new territory, as the only possible way in which freedom could be protected. As Kansas bordered on Missouri, it was evident that here was to be the battle ground. Slave owners from Missouri rushed in to take possession of the soil, but the people of the North were not slow to see the danger. An Emigrant Aid Society was quickly organized in Massachusetts, by Eli Thayer, to encourage and fit out emigrants to the new territory. Though the slaveholders were first in the field, people from the North soon followed in ever increasing numbers. Party spirit ran so high that collisions were inevitable. There was universal disorder and some bloodshed. Guerrilla bands of both parties wandered over the country and fought wherever they met. On the 21st of May, 1856, the town of Lawrence, the headquarters of the anti-slavery party, was attacked by marauders from Missouri, popularly known as “Border Ruffians,” and several of the most important buildings were sacked and burned. Three days later, a deliberately planned massacre of slave owners was perpetrated in retaliation, at Pottawatomie, by an anti-slavery band led by John Brown. =414. Advantages of the North in the Contest.=—The anti-slavery cause was helped by the unusual severity of the winter of 1855–1856, which made it evident that slavery could not prosper in Kansas. The largest slaveholder in the territory was obliged, with his own hands, to cut and haul wood to keep his negroes warm, and even then one of them froze to death in his bed. Meanwhile, the Free State men increased rapidly in numbers. [Illustration: CHARLES SUMNER.]