EARLY STRUGGLES OF THE KANSAS FREE-STATE PIONEERS
Below is an excerpt from William G. Cutler's
History of Kansas, Douglas County,
in which Joshua Pike's participation in breaking Dr.
John Doy out of the St. Joseph jail is detailed.
In January, 1859, Dr. John Doy, his son Charles, and Mr. Clough, all of
Lawrence, started from that city to conduct thirteen negroes by way of
the Underground Railroad, through Nebraska, and taken refuge in
Lawrence. The party was intercepted on the north bank of the Kaw, a few
miles from Lawrence, and fifty miles from the eastern boundary of the
Territory, by a treaty of Missourians and Pro-slavery Kansans and taken
across the Missouri to St. Joseph, where, after a pretended examination
before a Justice of the Peace, in default of $5,000 bail, Doy and his
son were committed to prison in the Platte County Jail on a charge of
stealing negroes from Missouri- a crime punishable with death, according
to the statues of that State. On Doy's first trial, the jury failed to
agree; on the second trial, which took place at St. Joseph, June, 1859,
the jury brought in verdict of guilty and Doy and his son were sentenced
to the penitentiary for five years. Gov. Shannon and Gen A. C. Davis, of
Kansas Territory, and Judge Spratt, of Platte County, Mo, had been
employed as prisoners' counsel, and in accordance with a motion made by
the defense, judgment in the case was arrested sixty days, and the
prisoners remanded to the St. Joseph jail, from whence Charles Doy
effected his escape. Doy's friends in Lawrence saw that the time had now
arrived for them to attempt his rescue-before he should be removed from
the jail at St. Joseph. A party for that purpose was accordingly formed,
led by Maj. James B. Abbott, now of DeSoto, Johnson Co., Kan., and
consisting, besides himself, of Silas Soule, Joshua A. Pike,
S. J. Willis, Joseph Gardner, John E. Steward, Thomas Simmons, Charles
Doy, Lenox and George W. Hays. The party organized at Lawrence, and then
dispersed to meet and arrange their plan of operations at Elwood,
opposite St. Joseph. The party crossed the Missouri during the night of
Saturday, July 23, a little below the St. Joseph ferry, and after
remaining some little time in the city, under assumed characters,
familiarizing themselves with the streets and localities, and
establishing communication with the prisoner, they finally made their
way to the jail on a dark night, and in the midst of a driving storm,
and on pretense of securing a horse thief whom they had caught, and who
could not well be examined before morning, induced the jailer to give
them access to the interior of the building. As soon as they had
accomplished this purpose, they made their way to the cell of Dr. Doy,
and prevailed upon the jailer, by the unanswerable argument of a loaded
revolver at his heart, to offer no resistance to the consummation of
their design. The prisoner was released, and the party proceeded,
unmolested to the street, and by mingling with the crowds just leaving
the theaters, and aided by the alarm and confusion occasioned by a fire
alarm, succeeded in gaining the opposite shore in safety, where they
were met by friends and conducted to Lawrence.
The men who rescued Dr. John Doy were named the Immortal
10. Below is their photo. Captain Joshua Pike is standing, second from the
left.
Here are more links to the Dr. Doy story:
Another
account of
the Doy Rescue.
Buy
a copy of the Narrative of John Doy of Lawrence, KS, a "Plain,
Unvarnished Tale".
Letter from Dr. Doy and his son published in
Leavenworth Times February 24, 1859
Article
about Dr. Doy from New York Times March 18,
1859
Joshua A. Pike in addition to being a member of the
Doy rescue party was also part of a plot to rescue John Brown after the
raid on Harper's Ferry
Quantrill's Raid & Statement of Captain Joshua A. Pike who was among
the first on the trail of Quantrill's raiders as he trailed the band
into Missouri.
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