Yours in haste, H. STRATTON.[183] It seems from this that Brown was somewhere near Topeka, on the 12th, and not at Franklin. On the 16th the attack was made on Fort Titus. Of this Mr. Villard says: There was real fighting at Fort Titus, which Captain Samuel Walker, Captain Joel Grover, and a Captain Samuel Shombre attacked, at sunrise August 16, with fifty determined men. Captain Shombre was killed, and nine out of ten men with him wounded, in a rush on the block-house. In a short time eighteen out of the forty remaining attackers were wounded, including Captain Walker. After several hours of fighting, Free-State reinforcements appeared, including Captain Bickerton, with the six pounder, and its slugs of molten type. It was run to within three hundred yards of the fort and fired nine or ten times.... As Titus still showed no white flag, a load of hay was again resorted to with the same success as at Franklin. As the wagon was backed up to the log fort, and before the match was applied, the party surrendered.... Walker captured thirteen horses, four hundred guns, a large number of knives and six pistols, a fair stock of provisions and thirty-four prisoners, six of whom were badly wounded. One dead man was found in the block-house before it was burned. Again this question comes up: Where was Brown when this fighting was taking place? Was he in this very creditable engagement? Continuing his narrative, Mr. Villard says, on page 232: The testimony as to whether John Brown was at Saunders and Titus is conflicting. He himself left no statement bearing upon it, and Luke Parsons, James Blood, O. E. Learnard and others, are positive that he was not at either place. The weight of evidence would seem to be on that side. But John Brown did leave a statement bearing directly upon the question as to whether, or not, he was present at any of these engagements. In the interview which he gave out after his capture at Harper's Ferry, in answer to the question: "Did you know Sherrod in Kansas? I understand you killed him?" Brown replied: "I killed no man except in fair fight. I fought at Black Jack, and at Osawatomie, and if I killed anybody it was at one of these places."[184] Brown, therefore, was not present at any of these battles. He was at Lawrence, however, on August 17th, _after_ the fighting was over. Mr. Villard says on page 233: "That Brown was at Lawrence, when Walker arrived with his prisoners, admits of no doubt. Again his voice was raised for the extreme penalty; again he asked a sacrifice of blood." It appears, therefore, that Brown "terminated" a seven days "life in the bush" on the 17th, and became active in public affairs, for twenty-four hours. Referring to a concurrent incident Colonel Walker says: