This condition of affairs could not long exist without an open rupture between the two opposing forces and from this time on there was a succession of personal encounters of wide significance, and in addition there was the war along the border in which Atchison county played a conspicuous but not a glorious part. The activities here at that crucial period were largely in the interest of the pro-slavery forces. It was at this juncture that the immortal John Brown appeared on the scene to begin his work of driving the slavery advocates from Kansas and making it and the Nation free. His first appearance among the Free State men was December 7, 1855, but he had been in the territory several months before that with his four sons. John Brown did not reach Atchison county during his stormy career in Kansas. The nearest he ever came was in 1857 when he passed through Jackson county with a party of slaves which he was taking from Missouri to Nebraska for the purpose of setting them free. In the historical edition of the Atchison _Daily Globe_ of July 16, 1894, there appears the following short reference to this excursion: “In 1857 John Brown made a trip from Missouri into Nebraska with a party of slave negroes which he intended to set free. His route was through Jackson county, Kansas, and up by where the town of Centralia now stands. A lot of the pro-slavery enthusiasts in Atchison heard of the affair and went out to intercept Brown. They came up with him near Centralia, but Brown had heard of their coming and captured the entire party. One of the men in the pro-slavery party was named George Ringo; afterwards he soldiered with Dwight Merlin in the Thirteenth Kansas and often talked of the trip to Merwin around their camp fires. Ringo says that James T. Herford was another member of the pro-slavery party, and a man named Cook was another. John Brown looked at Cook critically after the capture and asked his name. Cook said his name was Thomas Porter. “I believe you are lying. I believe your name is Cook and if I was certain of it I would kill you,” Brown said. Cook was one of the men accused of killing Brown’s son at Osawatomie, but Brown was not certain of his identity and let him go with the others. George Ringo says that Brown held a prayer meeting in his camp every evening and asked a blessing at every meal. “One night when the Atchison party was in the custody of Brown, Brown asked Jim Herford to pray. ‘I can’t pray,’ Herford replied. ‘Didn’t your mother teach you to pray?’ Brown inquired. ‘She taught me to say, “Now I lay me down to sleep,” that was all,’ Herford answered. ‘All right,’ Brown said, ‘get down on your knees and say, “Now I lay me down to sleep.”’ Herford did as he was requested, being afraid to refuse and Brown soon rolled himself in a blanket and went to sleep.”