Meet John Brown

John Brown had grown up in the Rolla area and was an escaped prisoner who had been on the run for a couple of years.  One evening a police officer spotted a suspicious car in a motel parking lot and started check out the vehicle.  The car was in the possession of John Brown who was staying at the motel. When John Brown spotted the police officer he proceeded to shot the police officer in the leg and then made his escaped.  The manhunt was on.

John Brown was considered to be an experienced woodsman, survivalist, and an expert marksman.  Based on his reputation among the local residences, the consensus opinion was that John Brown could have killed the police officer if had wanted to and that after the shooting, he fled to the woods surrounding Rolla.  Whether that is true or not, I don't know, but from the pictures I saw of the crime scene, it would have been pretty easy for an expert marksman with a rifle to hit a policeman standing less that thirty yards away anywhere the shooter wanted.

The next day, the local police and state police were setting up roadblocks and canvassing the Rolla area for the elusive John Brown.  Within a couple of days, armed military troops numbering 300-400 had totally surrounded Rolla and had set up roadblocks on every road leaving the town.  That meant for me that every time I left or came back to my apartment, I had soldiers with automatic weapons stop me and inspect my car.  The were also helicopters flying overhead with heat seeking instruments and blood hounds on the ground searching for elusive John Brown.  Still he remained at large.

This massive manhunt went on for about a month.  Since John Brown apparently was well liked by some of the people in the area and had become a bit of a folk hero, I concluded the massive intimidating presence of the military troops and various police agencies was more for terrorizing the local population rather than a serious search for John Brown.  The fascist state loves to make examples of anyone who defies them and they use their victims as an example to terrorize anyone who might want to go against their dictates.  After all, anyone with half a brain knew that John Brown was long gone from the area.  So the massive show of force had to be to send a message to the local population much like the Kent State and Waco TX massacres were.

One morning while the lock down of Rolla was going on, I ventured into a local restaurant for breakfast.  There seated at a large table was my landlord John Potts and some of his friends.  Of course, their conversation was about how the military was going to capture John Brown.  Finally, Mr. Potts asked me what I thought.

"Well, John Brown is long gone from this area and he probably has been gone since day one.  And this manhunt here is not going to catch him."  I replied.  I continued, "Do you want to know how they will catch John Brown?   Someone on the street or in a store far from here will recognize him and they will turn him in to the police.  That is how they will catch John Brown."

About two months later, in Oklahoma City, a clerk in a bowling alley saw a man enter who looked suspicious to the clerk.  He called the police and they arrested John Brown!


Remember,  fascist state shows of force are to intimidate the weak and indoctrinated.