BY JOHN A. MARTIN, EX-GOVERNOR OF KANSAS.
Rev. Pardee Butler, who died at his old home, near
Farmington, on Saturday last, was, for a full generation
past, one of the most prominent figures in Kansas history.
He was a minister of the Christian Church, and located in
this county early in 1855. He came to Kansas to fight
slavery. He was a sincere man. He was a brave man. He had
in him the stuff of which martyrs are made. He
deliberately chose, on coming to the young Territory, the
county in which the advocates of slavery seemed to be
strongest and most violent. He made no secret of his
opinions on the question of slavery, nor of his purpose to
oppose the attempt to make Kansas, a slave State. He was
not a fighting man, in the worldly sense of that word; but
in its broader and higher significance, he was an
aggressive, fearless, tireless fighter. He would not kill,
but he did not hesitate to brave death. He would not
shoot, but he did not quail or cower before guns, for
knives, or ropes.
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