Great story.... I knew very little of it....
From;
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-bleedingkansas2.html
“On October 16, 1854, the first anti-slavery newspaper was established to voice the sentiments of the New England Emigrant Society. The newspaper called the Kansas Pioneer, further enraged the pro-slavery supporters
Pro-slavery Missourians flooded the state to vote at the first election in November, 1854, where armed pro-slavery advocates intimidated voters and stuffed ballot boxes. Andrew H. Reeder was elected as the first territorial governor of Kansas.
Another election was held in March, 1855 for the first territorial legislature. With the pro-slavery advocates winning again, the members ousted all Free-State members, secured the removal of Governor Andrew Reeder, adopted proslavery statutes, and began to hold their sessions at Lecompton, Kansas about twelve miles from Lawrence. Severe penalties were leveled against anyone who spoke or wrote against slaveholding and those who assisted fugitives could be put to death or sentenced to ten years hard labor.”
-—Note that the bulk of Missorians did not move to Kansas, they just came to vote and stuff the ballot boxes. It continues;
..”On December 1, 1855, a small army of Missourians, acting under the command of “Sheriff” Jones, laid siege to Lawrence in the opening stages of what would later become known as “The Wakarusa War.” The intervention of the new governor, Wilson Shannon, kept the proslavery men from attacking Lawrence.
But, later when a young man, who had come to the aid of the Free-Staters, rode off to his home about six miles west of Lawrence, he was met on the way by a group of pro-slavery men from Lecompton.
Though the man never even drew his weapon, he was shot in cold blood by the pro-slavery faction. His body was returned to Lawrence where the entire citizenry followed it to its burial, in the presence of his young wife and children, in Pioneer Cemetery. This event, more than any other, hardened the Free-Staters to the realization that they had come, not simply for an election to determine whether Kansas would be a free or slave state, but to fight a war over the issue.”
The “disputation,” as I read it, started with Missourian vote fraud, establishment of a illegitimate Facist state government in LeCompten, an armed action against Lawrence, and murder to support their addiction to slavery.
For more, go to the link. It discusses the violence on both sides.