|
This
illustration is one of several in Harper’s
Weekly that depicts John Brown’s
unsuccessful raid on the federal arsenal at
Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now West
Virginia). Brown, a radical abolitionist
previously involved in the violence of
"Bleeding Kansas," had hoped to
capture the arsenal and instigate a slave
revolt. He and his co-conspirators were
captured, tried, and hanged.
The coverage
of John Brown’s raid was unusual for Harper’s
Weekly since the newspaper usually shied
away from the slavery issue so as not to
alienate any of its national readership.
Editor John Bonner, however, could not
resist covering this breaking news story
when one of Harper’s top
writer-illustrators, David Hunter Strother
(pen-name, Porte Crayon), was visiting near
Harper’s Ferry and thus able to report the
unfolding events. Harper’s Weekly
used his illustrated stories in an attempt
to sell more newspapers than its chief
rival, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated
Newspaper. The coverage, though,
generated too much criticism for the
cautious editor, so he censored Strother’s
final report and illustration of the
executions.
|
