John Vansickle wrote from Bourbon County, Kansas Territory, to his father back East. Vansickle advised him not to travel to the Territory to visit him in light of recent events. Vansickle referred to the release of Benjamin Rice by James Montgomery and a band of free state men. Rice had been in a Fort Scott prison for killing a proslavery man. Shortly thereafter, according to Vansickle, John Brown entered Missouri, freed slaves and stole property. He also told his father that the newspapers communicated little of the story, as victims of crimes and anyone whose opinion was published would be subject to mob violence.