Arrest of a Supposed ‘Harper’s Ferry Insurrectionist’
On Saturday, about 12 o’clock, a man at first supposed to be Captain Cook, of the “provisional government,” was brought before Squire Sponsler on information of M. W. Houser and Charles Campbell, of Chambersburg. It appeared, on the examination, that this man had been in Chambersburg on the day before, and had visited Cook’s wife, who, with her child, has been boarding there for some two weeks. The looks of the prisoner creating suspicion, the front door of the house was watched by one man while another went for assistance. The house was then searched, but meanwhile the “bird had flown” over the fence, leaving in the yard a Sharp’s rife, unloaded, and a blanket marked E. H. He was followed, however, to Carlisle and arrested near the Western end of the town after a slight resistance. On his person were found four revolvers, all loaded, a bowie knife, some little money, and a circular advertisement of a book called “The History of Slavery.” He steadily refused to answer any of the questions put to him before the Squire, merely saying that “he was innocent,” and that “he didn’t want to have a hearing at that time.” He was accordingly committed and placed in the keeping of the Sheriff.
The prisoner, who now gives his name as WILLIAM HARRISON, is about six feet high, well built, with red hair and thin sandy beard. He was dressed in red muslin shirt and coarse dark pantaloons, rather dirty than otherwise. He, as might be expected, is rather a hard looking individual, though under such circumstances every man is liable to be described as “looking desperate and fit for any enterprise.”
The prisoners now in jail at Charlestown, Jefferson county, Va., in an interview with Houser and Campbell on Saturday, stated that the name of the man here is Hazlet. Brown is said to have refused to talk with them at all. A requisition for the body of the prisoner from Governor Wise to Governor Packer was taken to Harrisburg yesterday by Campbell. At the time of our going to press it was uncertain what action would be taken by Gov. Packer. The general impression through the town is that the requisition will not be granted. If it is, the effect of a writ of habeas corpus will be tried by the prisoner’s counsel.
