The follwoing letter appeared in the Abbeville [S.C.] Banner, 15 May 1856, p. 2, c. 4:

"Leavenworth City, April 24, 1856

Dear Friend Davis [W. C. Davis, the Editor]: According to promise, I snatch a few moments from business and excitement, to indite you a short sketch relative to the Abbeville Company.

We arrived here safely yesterday afternoon, after a tedious voyage of twelve days -- having been detained two days at St. Louis. We were joined at different points on the route by a company from Darlington [S.C.], one from Georgia, one from Virginia, and a number of independent individuals from Alabama and elsewhere -- making in all about a hundred men who landed here, besides about forty who went on to Atchison. We were cordially received at the landing, and last night a very enthusiastic meeting was held, where we were welcomed in the most eloquent manner by the Mayor and other distingusihed gnetlemen of this place. Maj. [ Warren D.] Wilkes of our company was loudly called for, and replied in a manner which has gained for him the admiration of every one who heard him. The Major has made quite a hit here, as I learn from the remarks of the citizens. The proceedings of that meeting will appear in the Kansas Herald, where you will have an opportunity of seeing them.

I need not tell you that our men have, by their correct and gentlemanly deportment, gained for themselves the good opinions of all with whom they have come in contact. I would not make an invidious distinction that may smack a little of self praise; but it will be a source of gratification to the "folks at home," to be told that our company is freer of dissipation and widlness generally than any other company that has preceded us.

Leavenworth City is by no means the place we had imagined it to be. It is a very thriving town of some twenty-five hundred inhabitants. Instead of the rough men, the miserable huts, the scant living that we had expected, we find luxury, and refinement, and plenty, and all the little appliances of civilized life. But above all, there are a number of beautiful ladies, setting that stamp of virtue and self-respect upon society which alone can make a home.

I find that I shall be compelled to extend this communication beyond the limits I had prescribed, by an account of the stirring events which are filling our political atmosphere with excitement. A few days since, Sheriff Jones proceeded to Lawrence (the Abolition stronghold) to arrest one Brown on a charge of perjury and (I think) embezzlement. He was resisted in the discharge of his duty. He summoned a posse of five and was again resisted. Lane, Robinson, and other Abolition leaders incited the hounds to their foolhardiness by harrangues, in which they proclaimed that it were better to obey the laws of Hell than of Kansas.

Yesterday Jones obtained a corporal's guard of ten men from Fort Leavenworth, and succeeded in arresting six of the rioters. While standing near his tent, Jones was shot. He fired back upon the wretch and wounded him. Jones was then lain on a bed in his tent, when a ball shot through the tent cloth again wounded him. Whether he ius dead or not, the dispatch does not say; but the report is that he was mortally wounded. Three hundred and fifty men marched out from the Fort this morning, for the purpose of supporting the authorities. The people here and at Atchison are in an intense state of excitement. The issue is at hand -- I say, let it come.

We want more men -- men with their families and negroes, when quiet is restored -- but men, ture and brave, men. Send them on.

Your friend,

J. M. P."

J. M. Pelot is Dr. J. M. Pelot, who was a member of the Abbeville company. He wrote a series of letters to Davis, which were published in the Abbeville Banner through the spring, summer and fall of 1856.