Buffum was plowing, and demanded his horses. Buffum
protested against this robbery, but the wretch shot Buffum and took
the horses. The unhappy man gave the following account of the matter:
"They asked me for my horses. I told them I was a
cripple--a poor lame man--that I had an aged father, a
deaf and dumb brother, and two sisters, all depending on
me for a living, and my horses were all I had. One of them
said I was a Abolitionist, and, taking me by the shoulder,
he shot me."
Gov. Geary was returning to Lecompton, and hearing of what had been
done, he called with Judge Cato at Buffum's house, and by the
Governor's direction Judge Cato took the dying man's deposition. Gov.
Geary was terribly shocked, and said to himself, "I never witnessed a
scene that filled me with so much horror." Mr. Geary sent a detective
on the track of the Kickapoo Rangers, and found that the murderer was
one Charley Hayes, living in Atchison county. He had the horses still
in his possession. The Governor ordered his arrest, and the Grand
Jury found a bill against him of murder in the first degree.
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