JOHN BROWN'S VISIT "There was a great celebration of the 4th of July here in 1858," says Warren Teele, "most of the business houses of the town were closed and the people generally turned out to the picnic.  I was with Dalzell then, on the corner of Second and Perry.  I did not care to celebrate, and so I stayed at the store through the morning, though Dalzell urged me to close up and go out for a good time.  At last I said I would close at noon, one or two other houses having kept open till then, and I was waiting through the last few minutes before the hour of twelve when a stranger came in.  He was a well built man, with heavy beard and hair, quaint and old-fashioned in style, and very gray.  'Has thee any sidemeat?' he asked as I came to meet him.  'No,' I said, 'we are just out of sidemeat; but we have some very fine shoulders.'  'I did not ask thee for shoulders; I asked thee for sidemeat,' he said, not in an irritated tone, but steadily and composedly as though merely setting me right when I was wrong.  I was anxious to save the sale for somebody, if I could not for my own house, so I said, 'Wait, I think I can take you to a man who will sell you all the sidemeat you want, if you will come with me.'  He did not say a word, but was ready to go, so I locked the store and led him as fast as we could walk-I was afraid we should find the place closed-half a block south on Perry and then a block west through the alley to Burr & Swift's store, which stood just across the alley from the present station of the interurban road.  We were in time, and the sidemeat was satisfactory.  After it the stranger bought flour and other provisions, in all a bill of over $400, and paid the cash.  He went around the corner of Front street, toward Burrows & Prettyman's mill, and came back with a covered conestoga wagon; an immense big thing, with the high bed flaring forward and back like the ends of a scow, and the whole interior hooded under the cover.  He loaded in his provisions and drove away, saying not a word more than was necessary.  It was months later that we learned-Burr and Swift and I-that our customer was old John Brown, the liberator.,  He had the bottom of that wagon bed full of guns and pikes then, and he was on his way out to his rendezvous at Springdale. "The raid, capture, trial and execution of John Brown made a tremendous sensation here, where the great mass of the people sympathized with him.  The escape of one of the Coppocs, Springdale boys who were in his desperate little band at Harper's Ferry, gave great satisfaction here, and delighted me very much, for I was a John Brown man.  Eli Adams kept a bookstore on Brady street where the trunk store is now, between Second and Third.  One day Eli slipped me quietly upstairs, and there was Coppoc.  I know that at least one other man beside myself was admitted to see him, and I know that he was kept there at least four days.  The detectives and United States marshals were raking the country for him, and were right here in Davenport when he was hidden there; but they never got on his trail, and he got away.  The story of his escape from Harper's Ferry, and his wayfaring all the way to this city, is most thrilling, as it has been given in one of the magazines of thirty years ago, or more.  He was escorted out of Davenport and on to safety.  I do not remember his face so well, but his old leader had a physiognomy and a bearing that impressed me deeply, so that I shall never forget him, just as he looked.  I may add that the clue that brought the detectives to Davenport on Coppoc's scent was the address, 'Burr & Swift, Davenport, Iowa,' on a box found among the effects of John Brown that were captured at Harper's Ferry." Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L