Womi n and children had fled from the Territory.

No man's life was safe, and every person, when he lay down to rest at night, bolted and barred his doors, and fell asleep grasping firmly his pistol, gun or knife.
Emory's company were all mounted on "pressed" horses, the owners of some of which were present to point out and claim them; but as there existed no courts or judges from whom the necessary legal process could be obtained, and as Gen.

Smith would not listen to their complaints, they had no means by which to recover their property.
Emory and his company held their headquarters at Leavenworth City, whence they sallied into the surrounding country to "press," _not steal,_ the horses, cattle, wagons and other property of Free State men.

It was during these excursions that Major Sackett, of the United States Army, found in the road near Leavenworth City a number of the bodies of men who had been seized, robbed, murdered and mutilated, and left unburied by the wayside.
On the 17th of August, 1856, a shocking affair occurred in the neighborhood of Leavenworth.

Two ruffians sat at a table in a low groggery, imbibing potations of bad whisky.
One of them, named Fugert, bet his companion six dollars against a pair of boots that he would go out and in less than two hours bring in the scalp of an Abolitionist.