In regard to Mr. Hull, to whom we have alluded, it should be said that his death was fixed upon by the members. Felton and Morrison agreed to do the work, but afterwards another proposition was made, to give him money and induce him to leave for parts unknown. This peaceable disposition of the man was _not_ satisfactory. Said they, "dead men tell no tales," and at an informal meeting, a vote was taken and all, with a single exception, present were in favor of _death_. That exception required more satisfactory evidence that Hull was the informer, and thus the murder of the man was prevented. The writer has not a particle of doubt, having been present at this meeting and heard the proposition and the vote taken, that the murder would have been perpetrated within twenty-four hours had not a single person been so exacting in regard to the facts. It may readily be believed that the writer never mingled in this murderous company without a brace of revolvers in his pocket, ready for instant use, and it may be no stretch of credulity to believe, that in case of an assault, the instruments would have been called into requisition. About the first of October, the restrictions upon the purchase and sale of firearms were removed, and the trade in the city in this department became very active. [Illustration: COL.G. ST. LEGER GRENFELL, "Who has fought in every clime, the man who advised raising the Black Flag and murdering Union soldiers, and who was to have assumed command of the Rebel prisoners upon being released from Camp Douglas, and to whom the citizens of Chicago would have had to appeal for mercy."] The intensity of hatred of Union soldiers, by the Copperheads would almost challenge credence. It was a common thing to seek to embroil them in personal altercations, and to fall upon them with violence and malice, and it is our opinion, that in almost every case where soldiers ever became involved in personal difficulty, the provocation came from Copperheads. We may mention an instance in point. During the summer, a Union soldier presented himself at our office and required surgical aid. His head was bleeding copiously, and his hair matted with blood, and so mutilated was he that he could scarcely speak or walk. He was perfectly sober, and evidently a very quiet, worthy man. It was doubtful how his injuries might terminate, but the poor fellow received our best attention, and thanks to a kind Providence, recovered after a long and painful illness. It appears that he was beset by a party of Copperheads, without the least provocation, only that he was a _Union soldier_. For our act of humanity in rendering professional aid, we were gravely suspected for a time of being "a dangerous man," and received several lectures of censure from the Sons of Liberty. He was but a "Union soldier," and his death, they said, was a matter of congratulation rather than of regret. CHAP. X