“We all went out to the barn, and there he told us all that he had heard and seen--that he had gone to Collins' Grove; that there was a large political meeting there; that Dan Bowen spoke in the most excited manner of the wrongs and outrages, as he termed them, of the vile abolition adminstration; that the Union soldiers were mere hirelings; that he hoped none of his party would join the Abolition army to assist in robbing and murdering our brethren down South. (Dent had noted these sayings in his memorandum; he was a man of fair education and a close observer.) Bowen was vociferously applauded during his remarks. Thos. A. Strider spoke also; but he was not so vehement and abusive as Bowen, but was equally strong against the war for the Union. Strider spoke of it as an unholy war on our part, and all the acts of Congress and the President being 'unauthorized and unconstitutional,' and that the war would be a failure and ought to be; that he would not see money appropriated, if in his power to prevent, to carry it on; that if the Government undertook to draft his friends in Indiana as soldiers, he would defend any of them (free of charge) that resisted such an unconstitutional proceeding. He continued in this vein for an hour. These utterances were loudly applauded by the majority of the audience. But, continuing, he stated that on that day he came across the three escaped prisoners heretofore mentioned, and staid with them during the speeches and agreed to all that was said, so as to satisfy them of his strict adherence to their principles. “They said to him that if he would remain that night they would initiate him into their mysterious organization. He acceded to their proposition without hesitation, and remained--not leaving them for an instant. In the evening, shortly after dark, they were all conducted to a large empty barn near by, and on entering it Dent found Thos. A. Strider presiding, and Bowen lecturing on the designs and purposes of the Knights of the Golden Circle.