They are mistaken who take him to be a madman. He is a bundle of the best nerves I ever saw — cut and thrust and bleeding and in bonds. Clear head, courage, fortitude. A fanatic, vain and garrulous — but firm, truthful, and intelligent.
Original passage & context
"And they are themselves mistaken who take him to be a madman. He is a bundle of the best nerves I ever saw — cut and thrust and bleeding and in bonds. He is a man of clear head, of courage, fortitude and simple ingenuousness. [...] He is a fanatic, vain and garrulous, but firm, truthful and intelligent."
The governor preparing to hang Brown vouches for his sanity, nerve, and truthfulness — the assessment that helped make Brown a martyr. Text from the LoC scan of a contemporary reprint, OCR-reconciled (e.g. 'siuipl' -> 'simple'); wording varies slightly across 1859 reprints.
Read it in the original — Orleans Independent Standard, Nov 4, 1859 (LoC scan) ↗