Lot 353
THE ROPE THAT HANGED JOHN BROWN
JOHN BROWN (1800 - 1859) American abolitionist who became obsessed with idea of abolishing slavery by force, massacred five slavery adherents at Pottawatomie, seized the arsenal at Harpers Ferry and was hanged for treason. A superb pair of relics from the hanging of John Brown and one of his accomplices, relics said to be pieces of each of the ropes used to hang the condemned! The Brown relic is an oiled section of rope measuring 3 1/2" long and 5/16" thick, whipped with two turns of white cotton thread at left to hold the end together, and is matted with a reproduction of a photo of Brown and set into a wood frame. This rope was used in the hanging of Brown in Charleston, Va. on December 2, 1859. A second section of rope measures 2" long and 7/16" thick and is accompanied by a contemporary handwritten note to which it was once pinned, reading: "A piece of the rope with which J[ohn]. E. Cook was hung Dec. 16th 1859. Made of Kentucky hemp & furnished to the sheriff of Jefferson Co. by Gov. [Henry A.] Wise". Although the written note of provenance for the Brown section of rope was lost at the time of framing, there is a trail of provenance to the present owner. According to a copy of a newspaper article included with the lot, on Oct. 29, 1999 these relics and others from the executions, including a piece of the Brown scaffold, matches from his cell, other sections of ropes from Browns co-conspirators, and so on, were sold by York Town Auction, Inc. in York, Pa. A few months later, on May 21, 2000 the same lot was offered at auction by noted autograph auctioneers Remember When Auctions of Acton, Maine. All of the items were illustrated in the catalog description, a copy of which is also included with this lot. The Cook rope and note of provenance can be discerned in the catalog photo, shown with three other small pieces of rope use to bind or hang other of Brown's co-conspirators. The only other piece of rope is described as the one that hanged Brown, and it matches the section we offer, bearing the same cotton thread whipping at left and the same degree of fraying at the opposite end. A box sold with the original lot (not included) bore a mailing address and read: "I bought these, TTP, Jr., John Brown items - pieces of rope used in hanging his men, etc." The lot was sold directly to our consignor. Putting it all together, we feel it safe to assume that both relics came from the original York Town/Remember When auctions. Although labeled or otherwise described as ropes used to hang the conspirators, we must note for accuracy that the small diameter of the ropes is somewhat inconsistent with those typically used in hangings, usually 1/2" - 1". These ropes may have been used to bind the hands of the condemned, or may have indeed been used to hang the conspirators. Cook was the one man who believed that it was best to attack the town of Harper's Ferry, and therefore was sent to that town over a year in advance of others, and lived in the city. He was captured eight miles from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1859, and hanged on December 16. A fine set of very rare relics!
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