Salmon Brown stated to Mr. Villard, that they left "because Lucius Mills insisted on the invalids being moved, and because they were a drag on the fighting men": and Henry Thompson affirmed that "he, Oliver, Owen and Salmon had had enough of Kansas. They did not wish to fight any more. They felt they had suffered enough; that the service which they had been called upon to perform at Pottawatomie squared them with duty. They were, they thought, entitled to leave further work to other hands. They were sick of the fighting and trouble."[169]
These statements show that there were violent actions somewhere, about something long after Black Jack; and that the invalids impeded the movements of the "fighting" men. But where this fighting took place, or what it was about, history is silent. Salmon Brown could tell all about the occurrences of these fifty days if he were disposed to do so. There is ample evidence, however, of the fact that the Browns led a stormy life during the days they are reported "unaccounted for."[170] The friendly mantle which the night spread over their actions, at the time, has not been lifted, but the actors therein have told enough to show that what they did do, was done at the peril of their lives; and was of such a character that at least one of the party, Lucius Mills, refused to take any part in it. For this, Mills lost caste with Brown "because he had no desire to fight, but played nurse and doctor while the others did the fighting."[171] But since there was no fighting anywhere in Kansas, we must conclude that they used the term "fighting" as a convenience, or as a witticism, and that it really means stealing horses; and that the Browns, while in hiding from the world at large, were still carrying on the business they commenced in the bloody tragedy on the Pottawatomie. Further evidence that they were horse thieves, appears in an incident which occurred when they were en route home, as related by Salmon Brown. He says:[172]
"We other four bought a double buggy and harness from the Oberlin people, on credit at Tabor, drove to Iowa City, sold the horses, sent back the money to pay for the wagon, and all four went home. The horses for the double buggy we came by thus: we heard on the way through Nebraska, that some pro-slavery men were after us. Oliver, who was always a dare-devil, and William Thompson ambushed these men, deliberately turning aside for that purpose. The men, ordered off their horses, took it for a regular hold-up in force, and surrendered their animals. Oliver and William immediately jumped on and lit out for Tabor. It was these horses that took us across Iowa." The need of converting pro-slavery animals into good anti-slavery stock, was thus urgent with the Brown sons in peaceful placid Nebraska as it had been in bleeding Kansas.