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Brown, John (Abolitionist was born May)

abolitionist, was born May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Conn. In 1855 he emigrated to Kansas, where he took an active part in the contest of that state, caused by the passage of the Kansas- Nebraska bill, advocating squatter-sovereignty. In 1859 he formed the bold plan of freeing the slaves in Virginia, and on the night of Oct. 16 he surprised Harper's Ferry, seized the arsenal and armory and took forty prisoners. But his small band was soon overpowered and captured. He was tried in November, and hanged Dec. 2, 1859.