Old News--

Thaddeus Stephens on John Brown in 1859

. . . .A good joke about Harper's Ferry is laid to the door of Thaddeus Stephens.  He was talking of the "invasion" at a Washington hotel, the other evening, with a Southern friend.  Southern waxed hot, and declared that John Brown, "d--n him,["] deserved a dozen hangings.  "Yes," said Thaddeus, in his solemn, drawling style, "you are right; he deserved hanging.  He only brought 17 men; if he had brought thirty he would have settled the Slavery question forever."

Original Source: "Miscellaneous News," Independent Republican [Montrose, Pa.], Dec. 15, 1859, p. 2