Chapter 82: Pro-slavery marauders sack the Free State capital of Lawrence. 

Sumner’s violent rhetoric in DC is mirrored in Kansas when Douglas County Sheriff Samuel Jones arrives at Lawrence with 700 soldiers and four cannons on May 21, 1856.

They proceed to flatten the Free State Hotel headquarters, dump the town’s two printing presses into the Kansas River and loot community property.

Sheriff Jones says, “This is the happiest day of my life, I assure you.”