Reporter-illustrator David Hunter Strother, better known at the time as Porte Crayon, recorded for Harper's Weekly the final skirmishes of John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry and his capture. Crayon's articles were highly controversial: strong pro-slavery advocates accused him of having excessive abolitionist sentiments whereas antislavery proponents argued that he was too anti-abolitionist. Crayon had a ringside seat at Brown's execution and wrote a long report and a few sketches on the event, which Harper's Weekly returned to avoid more controversy. It was not until the mid-20th century that a manuscript on the execution of John Brown, signed with the initials D. H. S. appeared among the property of a Shenandoah Valley family. An excerpt from Strother's "John Brown's Death and Last Words" and some of his illustrations of Brown's execution are presented.
