Jerks in History

[L Verge]

Sorry, Gene, but I don't believe that Brooks's actions were considered cowardly by the standards of HIS time. I don't know any other way to express the thoughts of those times other than what I have already said, so I am going to ask one more time:

What makes Brooks worse than John Brown and Bleeding Kansas? Many abolitionists applauded his mass killings. and many influential Northerners gave financial aid to his decision to raid Harpers Ferry and incite a slave rebellion. Believe it or not, I despise what Brown did, but I understand his fanaticism given the circumstances of the 1850s -- just like I understand Preston Brooks taking his wrath out on one pompous abolitionist.