Albert
Hazlett, one of John Brown’s raiders was executed March 16th 1860,
even though he wasn’t with Brown during the Harper’s Ferry raid.
Albert
Hazlett was born September 21st 1837 in Pennsylvania. He worked on his brother’s farm in
Pennsylvania, before moving to Kansas.
He was described as a good sized and fine looking man.
Hazlett
wasn’t with John Brown on the morning of October 18th 1859 when
Robert E Lee and a company of United States Marines brought an end to Brown’s
Raid on Harpers Ferry. Hazlett and
another man; Osborne Anderson left Harpers Ferry the night before undetected. The two men headed north into Pennsylvania. Hazlett, who assumed the name William
Harrison, was arrested October 22nd 1859 in Cumberland County,
Pennsylvania. He was brought before a
judge in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but was unable to convince the judge that they
had the wrong person. The judge ruled that
while “there is no evidence that we have any man in our custody named Albert
Hazlett, we are satisfied that a monstrous crime has been committed [and] that
the prisoner…participated in it.”
Hazlett was sent back to Charlestown, Virginia for trail.
He was found
guilty. Hazlett was executed March 16th
1860. The night before his execution
Hazlett wrote to a Mrs. Rebecca Spring, that it gives “me great comfort to know
that my body would be taken from this land of chains.... I am willing to die in
the cause of liberty, if I had ten thousand lives I would willingly lay them
all down for the same cause."
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