The prayer of Thaddeus Hyatt to James Buchanan, president of the United States, in behalf of Kansas, asking for a postponement of all the land sales in that territory, and for other relief : together with correspondence and other documents setting forth its deplorable destitution from the drought and famine : submitted under oath, October 29, 1860
"Mr Hyatt was an abolitionist and inventor. In his opposition to slavery, Hyatt organized the efforts of abolitionists in Kansas to have the territory admitted to the Union as a free-state and campaigned for the federal government to aid Kansans afflicted by drought. Hyatt befriended John Brown and provided Brown with financial support; following the raid on Harpers Ferry, Hyatt was investigated by a committee of the United States Senate." [from Wikipedia]