The relatives and friends of the deceased charged John Brown and his band with these murders, which the relatives and friends of Brown persistently denied.

His latest biographer, however, unreservedly admits his guilt: "For some reason he [John Brown] chose not to strike a blow himself; and this is what Salmon Brown meant when he declared that his father 'was not a participator in the deed.' It was a very narrow interpretation of the word 'participator' which would permit such a denial; but it was no doubt honestly made, although for the purpose of disguising what John Brown's real agency in the matter was.

He was, in fact, the originator and performer of these executions, although the hands that dealt the wounds were those of others."-- Frank B.Sanborn, "Life and Letters of John Brown," pp.
263-4.
[2] "He was exhibiting to a number of gentlemen, who happened to be collected together in a druggist's store, some weapons which he claimed to have taken from Captain Pate in Kansas.

Among them was a two-edged dirk, with a blade about eight inches long, and he remarked that if he had a lot of those things to attach to poles about six feet long, they would be a capital weapon of defense for the settlers of Kansas....

When he came to make the contract, he wrote it to have malleable ferrules, cast solid, and a guard to be of malleable iron.
That was all the difference....