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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