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THE

FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW

AND

ITS VICTIMS.

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY,
138 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK.
1856.




ANTI-SLAVERY TRACTS. No. 18.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW, AND ITS VICTIMS.

       *       *       *       *       *

The Fugitive Slave Law was enacted by Congress in September, 1850,
received the signature of HOWELL COBB, [of Georgia,] as Speaker of
the House of Representatives, of WILLIAM R. KING, [of Alabama,] as
President of the Senate, and was "approved," September 18th, of that
year, by MILLARD FILLMORE, Acting President of the United States.

The authorship of the Bill is generally ascribed to James M. Mason,
Senator from Virginia. Before proceeding to the principal object of
this tract, it is proper to give a synopsis of the Act itself, which
was well called, by the New York _Evening Post_, "An Act for the
Encouragement of Kidnapping." It is in ten sections.


SYNOPSIS OF THE LAW.

SECTION 1. United States Commissioners "authorized and required to
exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this
act."

SECT. 2. Commissioners for the Territories to be appointed by the
Superior Court of the same.

SECT. 3. United States Circuit Courts, and Superior Courts of
Territories, required to enlarge the number of Commissioners, "with
a view to afford reasonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from
labor," &c.

SECT. 4. Commissioners put on the same footing with Judges of the
United States Courts, with regard to enforcing the Law and its
penalties.

SECT. 5. United States Marshals and deputy marshals, who may refuse
to act under the Law, to be fined One Thousand dollars, to the use
of the claimant. If a fugitive escape from the custody of the
Marshal, the Marshal to be liable for his full value. Commissioners
authorized to appoint special officers, and to call out the _posse
comitatus_, &c.

SECT. 6. The claimant of any fugitive slave, or his attorney, "may
pursue and reclaim such fugitive person," either by procuring a
warrant from some judge or commissioner, "or by seizing and
arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without
process;" to take such fugitive before such judge or commissioner,
"whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such
claimant in a summary manner," and, if satisfied of the identity of
the prisoner, to grant a certificate to said claimant to "remove
such fugitive person back to the State or Territory from whence he
or she may have escaped,"--using "such reasonable force or restraint
as may be necessary under the circumstances of the case." "In no
trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged
fugitive be admitted in evidence." All molestation of the claimant,
in the removal of his slave, "by any process issued by any court,
judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever," to be prevented.

SECT. 7. Any person obstructing the arrest of a fugitive, or
attempting his or her rescue, or aiding him or her to escape, or
harboring and concealing a fugitive, knowing him to be such, shall
be subject to a fine of not exceeding one thousand dollars, and to
be imprisoned not exceeding six months, and shall also "forfeit and
pay the sum of one thousand dollars for each fugitive so _lost_."

SECT. 8. Marshals, deputies, clerks, and special officers to receive
usual fees; Commissioners to receive ten dollars, if fugitive is
given up to claimant; otherwise, five dollars; to be paid by
claimant.

SECT. 9. If claimant make affidavit that he fears a rescue of such
fugitive from his possession, the officer making the arrest to
retain him in custody, and "to remove him to the State whence he
fled." Said officer "to employ so many persons as he may deem
necessary." All, while so employed, be paid out of the Treasury of
the United States.

Sect. 10. [This Section provides an additional and wholly distinct
method for the capture of a fugitive; and, it may be added, one of
the loosest and most extraordinary that ever appeared on the pages
of Statute book.] Any person, from whom one held to service or labor
has escaped, upon making "satisfactory proof" of such escape before
any court of record, or judge thereof in vacation--a record of
matter so proved shall be made by such court, or judge, and also a
description of the person escaping, "with such convenient certainty
as may be;"--a copy of which record, duly attested, "being produced
in any other State, Territory, or District," and "being exhibited to
any judge, commissioner, or other officer authorized," &c. "shall be
held and taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the fact of
escape, and that the service or labor of the person escaping is due
to the party in such record mentioned;" when, on satisfactory proof
of identity, "he or she shall be delivered up to the claimant."
"_Provided_, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as
requiring the production of a transcript of such record as evidence
as aforesaid; but in its absence, the claim shall be heard and
determined upon other satisfactory proofs competent in law."


The name of the NORTHERN men who voted for this cruel kidnapping law
should not be forgotten. Until they repent, and do works meet for
repentance, let their names stand high and conspicuous on the roll
of infamy. Let the "slow-moving finger of scorn" point them out,
when they walk among men, and the stings of shame, disappointment,
and remorse continually visit them in secret, till they are forced
to cry, "my punishment is greater than I can bear." As to the
_Southern_ men who voted for the law, they only appeared in their
legitimate character of oppressors of the poor--whom God will repay,
in his own time. The thousand-tongued voices of their brother's
blood cry against them from the ground.

The following is the vote, in the SENATE, on the engrossment of the
bill:--

     YEAS,--Atchison, Badger, Barnwell, Bell, Berrien, Butler,
     Davis (of Mississippi), Dawson, A.C. DODGE (of Iowa), Downs,
     Foote, Houston, Hunter, JONES (of Iowa), King, Mangum, Mason,
     Pearce, Rusk, Sebastian, Soulé, Spruance, STURGEON (of
     Pennsylvania), Turney, Underwood, Wales, Yulee.--27.

     NAYS.--Baldwin, Bradbury, Chase, Cooper, Davis (of
     Massachusetts), Dayton, Henry Dodge (of Wisconsin), Greene,
     Smith, Upham, Walker, Winthrop.--12.

     ABSENT, OR NOT VOTING.--Benton, Borland, _Bright_ of Indiana,
     _Clarke_ of Rhode Island, Clay, _Cass_ of Michigan, Clemens,
     _Dickinson_ of New York, _Douglas_ of Illinois, _Ewing_ of
     Ohio, _Felch_ of Michigan, _Hale_ of New Hampshire, _Hamlin_
     of Maine, _Miller_ of New Jersey, Morton, _Norris_ of New
     Hampshire, _Phelps_ of Vermont, Pratt, _Seward_ of New York,
     _Shields_ of Illinois, _Whitcomb_ of Indiana. [Fifteen
     Northern Senators absent from the vote.]


On the final passage of the Bill in the Senate, the yeas and nays
were not taken. _D.S. Dickinson_ of New York, who had been absent
when the vote was taken on the engrossment, spoke in favor of the
bill. Mr. Seward was said to be absent from the city, detained by
ill health.

When the Bill came up in the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, (September
12th,) JAMES THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, got the floor,--doubtless by
a previous understanding with the Speaker,--and addressed the House
in support of the Bill. He closed his remarks by _moving the
previous question_! It was ordered, and thus all opportunity for
reply, and for discussion of the Bill was cut off. The Bill was then
passed to its third reading--equivalent to enactment--by a vote of
109 YEAS, to 75 NAYS; as follows:--

YEAS.
     _Maine._--THOMAS J.D. FULLER, of Calais; ELBRIDGE GERRY, of
     Waterford; NATHANIEL S. LITTLEFIELD, of Bridgton.

     _New Hampshire._--HARRY HIBBARD, of Bath; CHARLES H. PEASLEE,
     of Concord.

     _Massachusetts._--SAMUEL A. ELIOT, of Boston.

     _New York._--HIRAM WALDEN, of Waldensville.

     _New Jersey._--ISAAC WILDRICK, of Blairstown.

     _Pennsylvania._--MILO M. DIMMICK, of Stroudsburg; JOB MANN,
     of Bedford; J.X. MCLANAHAN, of Chambersburg; JOHN ROBBINS,
     Jr., of Philadelphia; THOMAS ROSS, of Doylestown; JAMES
     THOMPSON, of Erie.

     _Ohio._--MOSES HOAGLAND, of Millersburg; JOHN K. MILLER, of
     Mount Vernon; JOHN L. TAYLOR, of Chillicothe.

     _Michigan._--ALEXANDER W. BUELL, of Detroit.

     _Indiana._--NATHANIEL ALBERTSON, of Greenville; WILLIAM J.
     BROWN, of Amity; CYRUS L. DUNHAM, of Salem; WILLIS A. GORMAN,
     of Bloomington; JOSEPH E. MCDONALD, of Crawfordsville; EDWARD
     W. MCGAUGHEY, of Rockville.

     _Illinois._--WILLIAM H. BISSELL, of Belleville; THOMAS L.
     HARRIS, of Petersburg; JOHN A. MCCLERNAND; WILLIAM A.
     RICHARDSON, of Quincy; TIMOTHY R. YOUNG, of Marshall.

     _Iowa._--SHEPHERD LEFFLER, of Burlington.

     _California._--EDWARD GILBERT.

[All these Northern Traitors called themselves _Democrats_! save
three--_Eliot_ of Massachusetts, _Taylor_ of Ohio, and _McGaughey_
of Indiana, who were Whigs.]

--> Every Representative of a Slaveholding State, who voted at all,
voted YEA. Their names are needless, and are omitted.


NAYS
     _Maine._--Otis, Sawtelle, Stetson.

     _New Hampshire._--Amos Tuck.

     _Vermont._--Hebard, Henry, Meacham.

     _Massachusetts._--Allen, Duncan, Fowler, Mann.

     _Rhode Island._--Dixon, King.

     _Connecticut._--Butler, Booth, Waldo.

     _New York._--Alexander, Bennett, Briggs, Burrows, Gott,
     Gould, Halloway, Jackson, John A. King, Preston King,
     Matteson, McKissock, Nelson, Putnam, Rumsey, Sackett,
     Schermerhorn, Schoolcraft, Thurman, Underhill, Silvester.

     _New Jersey._--Hay, King.

     _Pennsylvania._--Calvin, Chandler, Dickey, Freedley, Hampton,
     Howe, Moore, Pitman, Reed, Stevens.

     _Ohio._--Cable, Carter, Campbell, M.B. Corwin, Crowell,
     Disney, Evans, Giddings, Hunter, Morris, Root, Vinton,
     Whittlesey, Wood.

     _Michigan._--Bingham, Sprague.

     _Indiana._--Fitch, Harlan, Julian, Robinson.

     _Illinois._--Baker, Wentworth.

     _Wisconsin._--Cole, Doty, Durkee.

     _California._--Wright.


ABSENT, OR NOT VOTING.
     Andrews, Ashmun (Mass.), Bokee, Brooks, Butler, Casey,
     Cleveland (Conn.), Clarke, Conger, Duer, Gilmore, Goodenow,
     Grinnell (Mass.), Levin, Nes, Newell, Ogle, Olds, Peck,
     Phoenix, Potter, Reynolds, Risley, Rockwell (Mass.), Rose,
     Schenck, Spaulding, Strong, Sweetser, Thompson (Iowa), Van
     Dyke, White, Wilmot (Penn.) [33--all Northern men.]

     [Fifteen Southern Representatives did not vote.]

DANIEL WEBSTER was not a member of the Senate when the vote on the
Fugitive Slave Bill was taken. He had been made Secretary of State,
a short time previous. All, however, will remember the powerful aid
which he gave to the new compromise measures, and among them to the
Fugitive Slave Bill, in his notorious Seventh of March Speech,
[1850.] A few extracts from that Speech will show how heavily the
responsibility of the existence of this law rests upon DANIEL
WEBSTER:--

     "I suppose there is to be found no injunction against
     that relation [Slavery] between man and man, in the
     teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or of any of his
     Apostles."--_Webster's 7th March Speech_, (_Authorized
     Edition_,) p. 9.

     "One complaint of the South has, in my opinion, just
     foundation; and that is, that there has been found at
     the North, among individuals and among legislators, a
     disinclination to perform, fully, their Constitutional duties
     in regard to the return of persons bound to service, who have
     escaped into the free States. In that respect, it is my
     judgment that the South is right, and the North is wrong."
     * * * * "My friend at the head of the Judiciary Committee
     [Mr. MASON of Virginia] has a bill on the subject now before
     the Senate, with some amendments to it, WHICH I PROPOSE
     TO SUPPORT, WITH ALL ITS PROVISIONS, _to the fullest
     extent_."--_Idem._ p. 29.

     He proceeded to assure the Senate that the North would, on
     due consideration, fulfil "their constitutional obligations"
     "_with alacrity_." "Therefore, I repeat, sir, that here is a
     ground of complaint against the North well founded, which
     ought to be removed, which it is now in the power of the
     different departments of this Government to remove; which
     calls for the enactment of proper laws authorizing the
     judicature of this Government, in the several States, to do
     all that is necessary for the recapture of fugitive slaves,
     and for the restoration of them to those who claim them
     Wherever I go, and whenever I speak on the subject, and when
     I speak here, I desire to speak to the whole North, I say
     that the South has been injured in this respect, and has a
     right to complain; and the North has been too careless of
     what, I think, the Constitution peremptorily and emphatically
     enjoins upon her as a duty."--_Idem._ p. 30.

In a speech in the United States Senate, July 17, 1850, made with an
evident view to calm that Northern feeling which had been aroused
and excited by his 7th of March speech, beyond the power of priest
or politician wholly to subdue, Mr. WEBSTER said there were various
misapprehensions respecting the working of the proposed Fugitive
Slave Bill:--

     "The first of these misapprehensions," he said, "is an
     exaggerated sense of the actual evil of the reclamation of
     fugitive slaves, felt by Massachusetts and the other New
     England States. What produced that? The cases do not exist.
     There has not been a case within the knowledge of this
     generation, in which a man has been taken back from
     Massachusetts into slavery by process of law, not one."
     * * * * "Not only has there been no case, so far as I can
     learn, of the reclamation of a slave by his master, which
     ended in taking him back to slavery, in this generation, but
     I will add, that, as far as I have been able to go back in my
     researches, as far as I have been able to hear and learn, in
     all that region there has been no one case of false claim.
     * * * _There is no danger of any such violation being
     perpetrated."[A]--Webster's Speech on the Compromise Bill, in
     the United States Senate, 17th of July, 1850, edition of
     Gideon & Co., Washington_, pp. 23-25.

     [Footnote A: See also Mr. Webster's letter to the Citizens of
     Newburyport, dated May 15th, 1850, wherein he urges the same
     point, with great pains of argument.]

With such words did Mr. Webster endeavor to allay Northern alarm,
and to create the impression (which was created and which prevailed
extensively with his friends) that the Fugitive Law was only a
concession to Southern feeling, and that few or no attempts to
enforce it were likely to be made.

But when a few months had proved him a false prophet, and the
Southern chase after fugitive men, women, and children had become
hot and fierce, and in one or two instances the hunter had been
foiled in his attempts and had lost his prey, Mr. Webster changed
his tone, as follows:--

     In May, 1851, at Syracuse, N.Y., he said: "Depend upon it,
     the Law [the Fugitive Slave Law] will be executed in its
     spirit and to its letter. It will be executed in all the
     great cities--here in Syracuse, in the midst of the next
     Anti-Slavery Convention, if the occasion shall arise."

Certainly, so far as in Mr. Webster lay, so far as was in the power
of Mr. Fillmore, and the officers of the United States Government
generally, and of the still larger crowd of _expectants_ of office,
nothing was left undone to introduce the tactics, discipline, and
customs of the Southern plantation into our Northern cities and
towns, in order to enforce the Fugitive Law.

       *       *       *       *       *

The remainder of this Tract will be devoted to a record, as complete
as circumstances enable us to make, of the VICTIMS OF THE FUGITIVE
SLAVE LAW. It is a terrible record, which the people of this country
should never allow to sleep in oblivion, until the disgraceful and
bloody system of Slavery is swept from our land, and with it, all
Compromise Bills, all Constitutional Guarantees to Slavery, all
Fugitive Slave Laws. The established and accredited newspapers
of the day, without reference to party distinctions, are the
authorities relied upon in making up this record, and the _dates_
being given with each case, the reader is enabled to verify the
same, and the few particulars which the compass of the Tract allows
to be given with each. With all the effort which has been made to
secure a good degree of completeness and exactness, the present
record must of necessity be an imperfect one, and fall short of
exhibiting all the enormities of the Act in question.

     JAMES HAMLET, _of New York, September, 1850_, was the first
     victim. He was surrendered by United States Commissioner
     Gardiner to the agent of one Mary Brown, of Baltimore, who
     claimed him as her slave. He was taken to Baltimore. An
     effort was immediately made to purchase his freedom, and in
     the existing state of the public feeling, the sum demanded by
     his mistress, $800, was quickly raised. Hamlet was brought
     back to New York with great rejoicings.

     _Near Bedford, Penn., October 1._ Ten fugitives, from
     Virginia, were attacked in Pennsylvania--one mortally
     wounded, another dangerously. Next morning, both were
     captured. Five others entered a mountain hut, and begged
     relief. The woman supplied their wants. Her husband went out,
     procured assistance, captured the slaves, and received a
     reward of $255.

     _Harrisburg, Penn., October._ Some slaves, number not
     stated, were brought before Commissioner M'Allister, when
     "the property was proven, and they were delivered to their
     masters, who took them back to Virginia, by railroad, without
     molestation."

     _Detroit, 8th October._ A negro was arrested under the new
     law, and sent to jail for a week, to await evidence. Great
     numbers of colored people armed themselves to rescue him.
     Result not known.

     HENRY GARNETT, _Philadelphia_, arrested as the slave of
     Thomas P. Jones, of Cecil County, Maryland, and taken before
     Judge Grier, of the United States Supreme Court, October 18,
     1850, who declared his determination to execute the law as he
     found it. The Judge said that the claimant had not taken the
     course prescribed by the fugitive act, and proceeded to
     explain, in a detailed manner, what the course should be in
     such cases. As the claimant thus failed to make out his case,
     the prisoner was ordered to be discharged.

     _Boston, about 25th October._ Attempt to seize WILLIAM and
     ELLEN CRAFT. William Craft armed himself, and kept within
     his shop. Ellen was concealed in the house of a friend.
     Their claimants, named Hughes & Knight, were indicted for
     defamation of character, in calling W.C. a slave, and brought
     before a magistrate. The feeling excited against them was so
     great, that they at length fled from the city. Shortly after,
     it being considered hazardous for Mr. and Mrs. Craft to
     remain in the country, they were enabled to escape to
     England.

     [In a letter, dated Macon, Georgia, Nov. 11, John Knight
     gives a particular account of the proceedings and experiences
     of himself and his friend Hughes, on their then recent visit
     to Boston for the purpose, to quote his own language, "of
     re-capturing William and Ellen Craft, the negroes belonging
     to Dr. Collins and Ira Taylor." Willis H. Hughes also
     published his statement.]

     _New Albany, Indiana._ A woman and boy given up, and taken to
     Louisville. They were so white that, even in Kentucky, a
     strong feeling arose in their favor on that ground. They were
     finally bought for $600, and set free.

     ADAM GIBSON, _Philadelphia, December 21, 1850_. Surrendered
     by Edward D. Ingraham, United States Commissioner. The case
     was hurried through in indecent haste, testimony being
     admitted against him of the most groundless character. One
     witness swore that Gibson's name was Emery Rice. He was taken
     to Elkton, Maryland. There, Mr. William S. Knight, his
     supposed owner, refused to receive Gibson, saying he was not
     the man, and he was taken back to Philadelphia.

What compensation has the United States Government ever made to Adam
Gibson, for the injurious act of its agent, Ingraham? Had not the
Slaveholder been more honorable than the Commissioner or the makers
of the Fugitive Law, Gibson would have been in Slavery for life.

     HENRY LONG, _New York, December, 1850_. Brought before
     Commissioner Charles M. Hall, claimed as the fugitive slave
     of John T. Smith of Russell County, Virginia. After five or
     six days' proceedings, there being some doubt of the
     Commissioner's legal right to act, the alleged fugitive,
     Long, was taken before Judge Judson, District Judge of the
     United States. The Castle Garden Union Safety Committee
     retained Mr. George Wood in this case, as counsel for the
     slave claimant. Long was surrendered by Judge Judson, and
     taken to Richmond, Virginia. Judge J. was complimented by the
     _Washington Union_ as "a clear-headed, competent, and
     independent officer, who has borne himself with equal
     discretion, liberality, and firmness. Such judges as he,"
     continues the _Union_, "are invaluable in these times of
     turmoil and agitation." At Richmond, Long was advertised to
     be sold at public auction. On Saturday, January 18th, he was
     sold, amid the jeers and scoffs of the spectators, for $750,
     to David Clapton, of Georgia. The auctioneers (Pullam &
     Slade), in commencing, said there was one condition of the
     sale. Bonds must be given by the purchaser that this man
     shall be carried South, and that he shall be kept South, and
     sold, if sold again, to go South; and they declared their
     intention to see the terms fully complied with. Long was
     subsequently advertised for sale at Atlanta, Georgia.

     _Near Coatsville, Chester County, Penn._ On a writ issued by
     Commissioner Ingraham, Deputy Marshal Halzell and other
     officers, with the claimant of an alleged fugitive, at night,
     knocked at the door of a colored family, and asked for a
     light to enable them to mend their broken harness. The door
     being opened for this purpose, the marshal's party rushed in,
     and said they came to arrest a fugitive slave. Resistance was
     made by the occupant of the house and others, and the
     marshal's party finally driven off--the slave owner advising
     that course, and saying, "Well, if this is a specimen of the
     pluck of Pennsylvania negroes, I don't want my slaves back."
     The master of the house was severely wounded in the arm by a
     pistol shot; still he maintained his ground, declaring the
     marshal's party should not pass except by first taking his
     life.

     _Marion, Williamson County, Ill., about December 10, 1850._
     Mr. O'Havre, of the city police, Memphis, Tennessee, arrested
     and took back to Memphis a fugitive slave, belonging to Dr.
     Young. He did so, as the Memphis paper states, only "after
     much difficulty and heavy expense, being strongly opposed by
     the Free Soilers and Abolitionists, but was assisted by Mr.
     W. Allen, member of Congress, and other gentlemen."

     _Philadelphia, about January 10, 1851._ G.F. Alberti and
     others seized, under the Fugitive Slave Law, a free colored
     boy, named JOEL THOMPSON, alleging that he was a slave. The
     boy was saved.

     STEPHEN BENNETT, _Columbia, Penn._, arrested as the slave of
     Edward B. Gallup, of Baltimore. Taken before Commissioner
     Ingraham; thence, by _habeas corpus_, before Judge Kane. He
     was saved only by his freedom being purchased by his friends.

     _The Huntsville (Ala.) Advocate_, of January 1, 1851, said
     that Messrs. Markwood & Chester had brought back "_seven of
     their Slaves_" from Michigan.

     _The Memphis (Tenn.) Eagle_, of a later date, says that
     within a few weeks "at least five fugitive slaves have been
     brought back to this city, from free States, with as little
     trouble as would be had in recovering stray cows." The same
     paper adds, "We occasionally receive letters notifying us
     that a slave, said to be the property of some one in this
     vicinity, has been lodged in jail in Illinois or Indiana, for
     his owner, who will please call, pay charges, and take him
     away."

     _In Boston, end of January, 1851._ A colored man, lately from
     North Carolina, was sought by officers, under Marshal Devens,
     aided by a lawyer, named Spencer, provided by the New York
     Union Safety Committee. The arrest was not attempted. It was
     found that the colored man was too strongly guarded and
     protected.

     Mrs. TAMOR, or EUPHEMIA WILLIAMS, _Philadelphia, February,
     1851_, mother of six children, arrested and brought before
     Commissioner Ingraham, as the slave Mahala, belonging to
     William T.J. Purnell, of Worcester County, Maryland, admitted
     to have been absent since 1829--twenty-two years. Children
     all born in Pennsylvania; oldest about seventeen--a girl. Her
     husband also in custody, and alleged to be the slave of
     another man. Under writ of _habeas corpus_, Mrs. Williams was
     taken before Judge Kane, of the United States Circuit Court.
     After a full hearing, she was discharged, as not being the
     woman alleged.

     SHADRACH, _in Boston, February 15, 1851_. Arrested in Taft's
     Cornhill Coffee House, by deputies of United States Marshal
     Devens, on a warrant issued by George T. Curtis, United
     States Commissioner, on the complaint of John Caphart,
     attorney of John De Bree, of Norfolk, Va. Seth J. Thomas
     appeared as counsel for Caphart. After a brief hearing before
     G.T. Curtis, Commissioner, the case was adjourned to the
     following Tuesday. Shortly after the adjournment, the
     court-room was entered by a body of men, who bore away the
     prisoner, Shadrach. After which he was heard of in Montreal,
     Canada, having successfully, with the aid of many friends,
     escaped the snares of all kidnappers, in and out of Boston.
     The acting President, MILLARD FILLMORE, issued his
     proclamation, countersigned by DANIEL WEBSTER, Secretary of
     State, requiring prosecutions to be commenced against all who
     participated in the rescue.

     _Shawneetown, Illinois._ A woman was claimed by Mr. Haley,
     of Georgia, as his slave; and was delivered up to him by two
     Justices of the Peace, (early in 1851.)

     _Madison, Indiana._ George W. Mason, of Davies County,
     Kentucky, arrested a colored man, named MITCHUM, who, with
     his wife and children, lived near Vernon. The case was tried
     before a Justice of the Peace, named Basnett, who was
     satisfied that Mitchum was Davis's slave, and had left his
     service _nineteen years before_. The slave was accordingly
     delivered up, and was taken to Kentucky, (Feb. 1851.)

     _Clearfield County, Penn., about 20th January, 1851._ A
     boy was kidnapped and taken into slavery.--_Mercer (Pa.)
     Presbyterian_.

     _Near Ripley, Ohio._ A fugitive slave, about January 20,
     killed his pursuer. He was afterwards taken and carried back
     to slavery.

     _Burlington, Lawrence County, Ohio, near the end of February,
     1851_, four liberated slaves were kidnapped, re-enslaved, and
     sold. Efforts were made to bring the perpetrators of this
     nefarious act to punishment, and restore the victims to
     freedom.

     _At Philadelphia, early in March, 1851_, occurred the case of
     the colored woman HELEN or HANNAH, and her son, a child of
     tender years. She was taken before a Commissioner, and
     thence, by writ of _habeas corpus_, before Judge Kane. An
     additional question arose from the fact that the woman would
     soon become the mother of another child. Judge Kane decided
     that she was the property of John Perdu, of Baltimore,
     together with her son, and her unborn child, and they were
     all surrendered accordingly, and taken into slavery.

     _Pittsburg, March 13, 1851._ RICHARD GARDINER was arrested in
     Bridgewater, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, claimed as the
     property of Miss R. Byers, of Louisville, Kentucky. Judge
     Irwin, of the United States District Court, "remanded the
     fugitive back to his owner." He was afterwards bought for
     $600, and brought into a free State.

     _The Wilmington (Del.) Journal_, in March, 1851, says
     kidnapping has become quite frequent in that State; and
     speaks of a negro kidnapped in that city, on the previous
     Wednesday night, by a man who had been one of the city
     watchmen.

     THOMAS SIMS, arrested in _Boston_, April 4, 1851, at first on
     pretence of a charge of theft. But when he understood it was
     as a fugitive from slavery, he drew a knife and wounded one
     of the officers. He was taken before Commissioner George T.
     Curtis. To guard against a repetition of the Shadrach rescue,
     the United States Marshal, Devens, aided by the Mayor (John
     P. Bigelow) and City Marshal (Francis Tukey) of Boston,
     surrounded the Court House, in Boston, with heavy chains,
     guarded it by a strong extra force of police officers, with a
     strong body of guards also within the building, where the
     fugitive was imprisoned as well as tried. Several military
     companies also were called out by the city authorities, and
     kept in readiness night and day to act against the people,
     should they attempt the deliverance of Sims; Faneuil Hall
     itself being turned into barracks for these hirelings of
     slavery. Every effort was made by S.E. Sewall, Esq., Hon.
     Robert Rantoul, Jr., and Charles G. Loring, Esq., to save
     Sims from being returned into slavery, and Boston from the
     eternal and ineffaceable disgrace of the act. But in vain.
     The omnipotent Slave Power demanded of Boston a victim for
     its infernal sacrifices. Millard Fillmore, Daniel Webster,
     and their numerous tools, on the Bench, in Commissioners'
     seats, and other official stations, or in hopes of gaining
     such stations bye and bye, had fallen upon their faces
     before the monster idol, and sworn that the victim should
     be prepared. Thomas Sims was ordered back to slavery by
     Commissioner G.T. Curtis, and was taken from the Court House,
     in Boston, early on the morning of April 11th, [1851,] to the
     Brig Acorn, lying at the end of Long Wharf, and thence in the
     custody of officers, to Savannah, Georgia.

     There, after being lodged in jail, and severely and cruelly
     whipped, as was reported, he was at length sold, and became
     merged and lost in the great multitude of the enslaved
     population. The surrender of Sims is said to have cost the
     United States Government $10,000; the City of Boston about as
     much more; and Mr. Potter, the claimant of Sims, about
     $2,400, making a total of some $22,000, directly expended on
     the case.

     _Vincennes, Indiana, April, 1851._ Four fugitive slaves were
     seized, claimed by one Mr. Kirwan, of or near Florence,
     Alabama. The magistrate, named Robinson, gave up the
     fugitives, and they were taken into slavery.

     _In Salisbury Township, Penn., April, 1851_, an elderly man
     was kidnapped and carried into Maryland.

     _Near Sandy Hill, Chester County, Penn., in March, 1851_, a
     very worthy and estimable colored man, named Thomas Hall, was
     forcibly seized, his house being broken into by three armed
     ruffians, who beat him and his wife with clubs. He was
     kidnapped.

     MOSES JOHNSON, _Chicago, Illinois_, brought before a United
     States Commissioner, discharged as not answering to the
     description of the man claimed.

     CHARLES WEDLEY, kidnapped from _Pittsburg, Pennsylvania_, and
     taken into Maryland. He was found, and brought back.

     _Cincinnati, Ohio, June 3, 1851_, an attempt to arrest a
     fugitive was made. But a scuffle ensued, in which the man
     escaped.

     _Cincinnati, Ohio._ About the same time, some slaves, (number
     not stated,) belonging to Rev. Mr. Perry and others, of
     Covington, Kentucky, were taken in Cincinnati, and carried
     back to Kentucky.

     _Philadelphia, end of June, 1851_, a colored man was taken
     away as a slave, by steamboat. A writ of _Habeas Corpus_ was
     got out but the officer could not find the man. This is
     probably the same case with that of JESSE WHITMAN, arrested
     at Wilkesbarre.

     FRANK JACKSON, a free colored man in _Mercer, Penn._, was
     taken, early in 1851, by a man named Charles May, into
     Virginia, and sold as a slave. He tried to escape, but was
     taken and lodged in Fincastle jail, Virginia.

     THOMAS SCOTT JOHNSON, free colored man, of _New Bedford_, was
     arrested near Portsmouth, Virginia, and was about to be sold
     as a slave; but, by the strenuous interposition of Capt.
     Card, certificates were obtained from New Bedford, and he was
     set at liberty.

     ELIZABETH WILLIAMS, _West Chester County, Penn._, delivered
     into slavery by Commissioner Jones. (July, 1851.)

     DANIEL HAWKINS, of _Lancaster County, Penn._, (July, 1851,)
     was brought before Commissioner Ingraham, Philadelphia, and
     by him delivered to his claimant, and he was taken into
     slavery.

     _New Athens, Ohio, July 8, 1851._ Eighteen slaves, who had
     escaped from Lewis County, Kentucky, were discovered in
     an old building in Adams County, Ohio. Some white men,
     professing to be friendly, misled them, and brought them to a
     house, where they were imprisoned, bound one by one, and
     carried back to Kentucky. [The enactment of the Fugitive
     Slave Law is the direct stimulating cause of all these cases
     of kidnapping.]

     _Buffalo, August, 1851._ Case of DANIEL ----. D. was a cook
     on board the steamer "Buckeye State." He was engaged in his
     avocation, when Benj. S. Rust, with a warrant from United
     States Commissioner H.K. Smith, went on board the boat.
     Daniel was called up from below, and as his head appeared
     above the deck, Rust struck him a heavy blow, upon the head,
     with a large billet of wood, which knocked him back into the
     cook-room, where he fell upon the stove and was badly burned.
     In this state, he was brought before the Commissioner,
     "bleeding profusely at the back, of the head, and at the
     nose, and was moreover so stupefied by the assault, that he
     fell asleep several times during the brief and very summary
     proceedings." For most of the time he was unable to converse
     with his counsel, and "sat dozing, with the blood slowly
     oozing out of his mouth and nostrils." After a very hurried
     form, and mockery of a trial, Daniel was ordered to be
     delivered to Rust, the Agent of George H. Moore, of
     Louisville, Kentucky. By a writ of _Habeas Corpus_, Daniel
     was brought before Judge Coakling, of the United States
     Court, at Auburn, who gave a decision that set Daniel at
     liberty, and he was immediately hurried by his friends into
     Canada. Rust was indicted, in Buffalo, for his brutal assault
     on Daniel. It was fully proved; he afterwards plead guilty,
     and; was let off with the paltry fine of fifty dollars.

     JOHN BOLDING, _arrested in Poughkeepsie, New York_, claimed
     as the property of Barret Anderson, of Columbia, S.C. Bolding
     was a young man, of good character, recently married, and had
     a small tailor's shop in P. He said he was told, when a boy,
     that he was the son of a white man. He was tried before
     United States Commissioner Nelson, who ordered him to be
     delivered up to his claimants, and he was taken quietly from
     the city to Columbia, S.C. The sum of $2,000 was raised in
     New York, and paid to Bolding's owner, who had consented to
     take that sum for him, and Bolding returned to his family in
     Poughkeepsie.

     _Christiana, Lancaster County, Penn., Sept. 1851._ Edward
     Gorsuch, (represented as a very pious member of a Methodist
     Church in Baltimore,) with his son Dickinson, accompanied by
     the Sheriff of Lancaster County, Pa., and by a Philadelphia
     officer named _Henry Kline_, went to Christiana to arrest
     certain slaves of his, who, (as he had been privately
     informed by a wretch, named Wm. M. Padgett,) were living
     there. An attack was made upon the house, the slave-holder
     declaring (as was said) that he "would not leave the place
     alive without his slaves." "Then," replied one of them, "you
     will not leave here alive." Many shots were fired on both
     sides, and the slave-hunter, Edward Gorsuch, was killed.

     At a subsequent trial, a number of persons (nearly forty)
     were committed to take their trial for "treason against
     the United States, by levying war against the same, in
     resisting by force of arms the execution of the Fugitive
     Slave Law." CASTNER HANWAY was of the number. After
     suffering imprisonment and being subjected to great loss
     of time and heavy expenses, they were all discharged.

     _Syracuse, October 1, 1851._ JERRY, claimed as the slave of
     John McReynolds, of Marion County, Missouri, was brought to
     trial before Commissioner J.F. Sabine. He was rescued by a
     large body of men from the officers who had him in custody,
     and was next heard of in Canada.

     _James R. Lawrence_, a lawyer of Syracuse, acted as counsel
     for _James Lear_, attorney of McReynolds.

[N.B. Daniel Webster's prophecy was not fulfilled.]

     _Columbia, Penn._, (fall of 1851.) Man named HENRY, arrested
     as the slave of Dr. Duvall, of Prince George's County,
     Maryland,--taken to _Harrisburg_, before United States
     Commissioner McAllister and by him consigned to slavery.

     _Judge Denning_, of Illinois, discharged a negro brought
     before him as a fugitive slave, on the ground that the
     Fugitive Slave Law was unconstitutional.

     _Two alleged slaves arrested_ at _Columbia, Penn._, on
     warrant of United States Commissioner McAllister,--claimed as
     property of W.T. McDermott, of Baltimore. One was carried
     into slavery, one escaped. (November, 1851.)

     _Near New Philadelphia, Maryland_, a woman, married to a free
     colored man, with whom she had lived ten years, was arrested
     as the slave of a Mr. Shreve, of Louisville, Kentucky. She
     was taken back to Kentucky.

     RACHEL PARKER, free colored girl, kidnapped from house of
     Joseph S. Miller, West Nottingham, Penn., by the "notorious
     Elkton Kidnapper, McCreary," Dec. 31, 1851. Mr. Miller
     tracked the kidnappers to Baltimore, and tried to recover the
     girl, but in vain. On his way home, he was induced to leave
     the cars, and was undoubtedly murdered,--it was supposed in
     revenge of the death of Gorsuch at Christiana. Mr. Miller's
     body was found suspended from a tree. A suit was brought in
     the Circuit Court of Baltimore County, for the freedom of
     Rachel Parker, Jan. 1853. Over sixty witnesses, from
     Pennsylvania, attended to testify to her being free-born, and
     that she was not the person she was claimed to be; although,
     in great bodily terror, she had, after her capture, confessed
     herself the alleged slave! So complete and strong was the
     evidence in her favor, that, after an eight days' trial, the
     claimants abandoned the case, and a verdict was rendered for
     the freedom of Rachel, and also of her sister, Elizabeth
     Parker, who had been previously kidnapped, and conveyed to
     New Orleans.

--> McCreary was demanded by Gov. Bigler, of Pennsylvania, to be
delivered up for trial on a charge of kidnapping; but Gov. Lowe, of
Maryland, refused to surrender him. See _Standard_, July 2, 1853.

     JAMES TASKER, _New York City_, (Feb. 1852,) arrested through
     the treachery of Police Officer Martin, and brought before
     United States Commissioner George W. Morton, as the slave of
     Jonathan Pinckney, of Maryland. He was given up, and taken
     back to slavery.

     HORACE PRESTON, arrested in _Williamsburg, New York_, as the
     slave of William Reese, of Baltimore, Maryland;--Richard
     Busteed, of New York, being Attorney for the slaveholder. He
     was brought before United States Commissioner Morton, 1st
     April, 1852; for several days previous he had been kept a
     prisoner, and his wife knew not what had become of him. He
     was given up by the Commissioner, and was carried into
     slavery. The same policeman, Martin, (who acted in the case
     of James Tasker,) was active in this case; being, doubtless,
     the original informant.

     Preston was afterwards bought for about $1,200, and brought
     back.

     _Columbia, Penn._, (end of March, 1852;) a colored man, named
     WILLIAM SMITH, was arrested as a fugitive slave in the
     lumber yard of Mr. Gottlieb, by Deputy Marshal Snyder, of
     Harrisburg, and police officer Ridgeley, of Baltimore, under
     a warrant from Commissioner McAllister. Smith endeavored to
     escape, when Ridgeley drew a pistol and shot him dead!
     Ridgeley was demanded by the Governor of Pennsylvania, of the
     Governor of Maryland, and the demand was referred to the
     Maryland Legislature.

     Hon. J.R. Giddings proposed the erection of a monument to
     Smith.

     JAMES PHILLIPS, who had resided in _Harrisburg, Penn._, for
     fourteen years, was arrested May 24, 1852, as the former
     slave of Dennis Hudson, of Culpepper County, Virginia,
     afterwards bought by Henry T. Fant, of Fauquier County. He
     was brought before United States Commissioner McAllister.
     Judge McKinney volunteered his services to defend the alleged
     fugitive. The Commissioner, as soon as possible, ordered the
     man to be delivered up; and, after fourteen years' liberty,
     he was taken back to slavery in Virginia. Afterwards, bought
     for $900, and taken back to Harrisburg.

     _Wilkesbarre, Penn._, (Summer of 1852.) Mr. Harvey arrested
     and fined for shielding a slave.

     _Sacramento, California_; a man named Lathrop claimed another
     as his slave, and Judge Fry decided that the claim was good,
     and ordered the slave to be surrendered. Mr. Lathrop left,
     with his slave, for the Atlantic States.

     _A beautiful young woman_, nearly white, was pursued by her
     owner [and father] to New York, (end of June, 1852.) There a
     large reward was offered to a police officer to discover her,
     place of residence. It was discovered, and measures taken for
     her apprehension; but the alarm had been taken, and she
     escaped.

     _Sacramento, California_; three men were seized by a Mr.
     Perkins, of Mississippi. The Court decided them to be his
     property and they were carried back to Mississippi.--_Standard_,
     July 29, 1852.

     _Petersburg, Penn._ Two fugitives from Alabama slavery were
     overtaken, and taken back, September, 1852.

     JOHN HENRY WILSON, a lad of fourteen years, kidnapped from
     Danville, Pennsylvania, and taken to Baltimore, where he was,
     offered for sale to John N. Denning. Kidnappers committed to
     jail, October, 1852.

[--> DANIEL WEBSTER, the endorser of the Fugitive Slave Law, died at
Marshfield, Mass., October 24th, 1852, in the very height of the
Law's triumphant operation.]

     _LOUISA_, a colored woman, claimed by Mrs. Reese, of San
     Francisco, California, was seized by five armed men, and put
     on board Steamer Golden Gate, and carried it is not known
     whither. The aid of the Law was not invoked. The California
     _Christian Advocate_, from which the above is taken, says,
     "Two colored men, stewards on the Golden Gate, were sent back
     to the States on the last trip under the State Fugitive Law."

     _A mulatto woman, in San Francisco_, was ordered to be
     delivered to her claimant, T.T. Smith, Jackson Country,
     Missouri, by "Justice Shepherd,"--_San Francisco Herald_--in
     _Standard_, November 4, 1852.

     _Sandusky, Ohio._ Two men, two women, and several children
     were arrested and taken from a steamboat just about to leave
     for Detroit. Taken before Mayor Follett, by a man who claimed
     to be their owner. R.R. Sloane, Esq., was employed as counsel
     for the slaves. No one claiming custody of the slaves, or
     producing any writs or warrants, Mr. Sloane signified to the
     crowd present that there appeared to be no cause for the
     detention of the persons. Immediately a rush was made for the
     door. A man, who before had been silent, exclaimed, "Here are
     the papers--I own the slaves--I'll hold you individually
     responsible for their escape." The slaves escaped into
     Canada, October, 1852. Mr. Sloane was afterwards prosecuted
     for the value of the slaves, and judgment given against him
     to the amount of $3,950.

     _Thirty slaves_, says the _Maysville_ (Ky.) _Eagle_, "escaped
     from Mason and Bracken Counties, a short time ago. Some of
     them were captured in Ohio, by their owners, at a distance of
     about forty miles from the river." "They brought the captured
     slaves home without encountering the least obstacle, or even
     an unkind word."--_Standard_, November 4, 1852.

     THE LEMMON SLAVES. At New York, eight persons, claimed by
     Jonathan Lemmon, of Norfolk, Virginia, as his slaves, were
     brought before Judge Paine, November, 1852. It appeared that
     they had been brought to New York by their owner, with a view
     of taking them to Texas, as his slaves. Mr. Louis Napoleon, a
     respectable colored man, of New York, procured a writ of
     habeas corpus, under which they were brought before the
     court. Their liberation was called for, under the State Law,
     not being fugitives, but brought into a free State by their
     owner. Said owner appeared, with Henry D. Lapaugh as his
     counsel, aided by Mr. Clinton. At their urgent request, the
     case was postponed from time to time, when Judge Paine, with
     evident reluctance, decreed the freedom of the slaves. E.D.
     Culver and John Jay, Esqs., were counsel for the slaves. The
     merchants and others of New York subscribed and paid Mr.
     Lemmon the sum of $5,280, for loss of his slaves. The New
     York _Journal of Commerce_ was very active in raising this
     money. The same men were invited to contribute something for
     the destitute men, women, and children claimed by Lemmon. The
     whole amount given by them all, was two dollars. About one
     thousand dollars were raised for them among the better
     disposed but less wealthy class.

     THOMAS BROWN alias GEORGE BORDLEY, _Philadelphia, November,
     1852_, was claimed by one Andrew Pearce, Cecil County,
     Maryland. Given up to claimant by Commissioner Ingraham. The
     arrest of the man was made by the notorious kidnapper, George
     F. Alberti. Mr. Pettit, counsel for the claimant.

[Transcriber's note: The following note is inserted after the
following section but does not refer to any specific reported
incident.]

--> The Slaveholders of Kentucky begin forming associations for
mutual protection against loss of runaway slaves. The preamble of
the plan of association proposed at a meeting at Minerva Kentucky,
held in the winter of 1852-53, is as follows:--"Whereas it has
become absolutely necessary for the slave-owners of Kentucky to take
such steps as will secure their property, we, the citizens of Mass.
and Bracken counties, do recommend," &c. [end note]

     RICHARD NEAL, free colored man, kidnapped in Philadelphia and
     carried from the city in a carriage towards Maryland. A writ
     of _habeas corpus_ was obtained, the kidnappers were
     overtaken, and Neal brought back after resistance and various
     hindrances. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania discharged him.
     February, 1853.

     _Ten slaves_, arrested in Indiana, and taken back to
     Tennessee, by W. Carney and others. Resistance was
     made, and W. Carney "was very badly injured during the
     fracas."--_Nashville ----_, March 5, 1853. [Transcribers'
     note: ---- substituted for word cut off on original page.]

     _Alton, Illinois._ A man claimed to belong to Walter Carrico,
     of Warren County, Missouri, was arrested by police officers
     from St. Louis. After being lodged in jail in St. Louis he
     made his escape, and again went into Illinois. He was
     pursued, found, and taken back to St. Louis.--_St. Louis
     Republican_, March, 1853.

     AMANDA, a slave girl, was brought to St. Louis, from near
     Memphis, Tennessee, a year before, by a son of her master,
     and by him set free, without his father's consent. After the
     father's death, an attempt was made to seize Amanda, and take
     her back to Tennessee without trial. This was prevented by
     officers, the girl taken from the steamboat Cornelia, and
     brought before Levi Davis, United States Commissioner. He
     decided in favor of the claimants, (the heirs of the estate,
     of course.)--_St. Louis Republican_, March 17, 1853.

     JANE TRAINER, a colored child, about ten years old, in the
     possession of Mrs. Rose Cooper, _alias_ Porter, (a woman
     admitted by her counsel to be a common prostitute,) was
     brought before Judge Duer, of New York City, by a writ of
     _habeas corpus_, which had been applied for by Charles
     Trainer, the father of the child, (a free colored man, who
     had followed the parties from Mobile to New York,) and who
     desired that the custody of his daughter's person should be
     granted to him. [June, 1853, and previous.] Judge Duer
     decided that it was not within his jurisdiction to determine
     to whom the custody of the child belonged; the Supreme Court
     of New York must decide that. Judge D. proposed to both
     parties that the child should be put into his hands, and he
     would provide a proper person for her care and education, but
     the woman (Porter) would not consent to this. She evidently
     designed to train up the child for a life of shame, and
     perhaps of slavery also. The case was brought by a writ of
     _habeas corpus_, before Judge Barculo, of the Supreme Court,
     sitting at Brooklyn. The effort to serve the writ was at
     first defeated by the notorious New York bully, Captain
     Isaiah Rynders, acting, it was said, under the advice of
     James T. Brady, counsel for Mrs. Porter. For this
     interference with, the law, Rynders and some others were
     arrested and taken before Judge Barculo, who let them off on
     their making an apology! The second attempt to serve the writ
     on the child was more successful. After hearing counsel,
     Judge Barculo adjudged "that the said Charles Trainer is
     entitled to the care and custody of said Jane Trainer, and
     directing her to be delivered to him as her father," &c. In
     giving his decision, Judge B. said, "It is not to be assumed
     that a child under fourteen years of age is possessed of
     sufficient discretion to choose her own guardian; a house of
     ill-fame is not a suitable place, nor one of its inmates a
     proper person for the education of such a child." Jane
     Trainer's mother was afterwards bought from slavery in
     Mobile, Alabama, and enabled to join her husband and child.

     In 1854, Charles Trainer obtained a verdict in King's County
     Court, New York, for $775 damages, against Rose Cooper.

[N.B. Though not strictly a case under the Fugitive Slave Law, this
is very properly inserted here, as the whole spirit of the woman, of
her counsel, and of the means he took to accomplish his base
designs, was clearly instigated by that Law, and by the malignant
influences it brought into action against the colored people, both
slave and free.]

     BASIL WHITE, Philadelphia, was summarily surrendered into
     slavery in Maryland, by United States Commissioner Ingraham,
     June 1, 1853. He was betrayed into the clutches of the
     kidnapper Alberti, by a colored man named John Dorsey.

     _Two slaves_ of Sylvester Singleton, living near Burlington,
     (Ky.?) escaped and reached Columbus, Ohio; were there
     overtaken by their master, who secured them and took them
     back with him.--_Cincinnati Enquirer_.

     JOHN FREEMAN, a free colored man, seized in Indianapolis, and
     claimed as the slave of Pleasant Ellington, a Methodist
     church-member, (Summer, 1853,) of Missouri. Freeman pledged
     himself to prove that he was not the person he was alleged to
     be. The United States Marshal consented to his having time
     for this, provided he would go to jail, and pay _three
     dollars a day_ for a guard to keep him secure! Bonds to any
     amount, to secure the marshal against loss, if Freeman could
     go at large, were rejected. Freeman's counsel went to
     Georgia, and "after many days returned with a venerable and
     highly respectable gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Patillo,
     (post-master of the place where he resides,) who had
     voluntarily made the long journey for the sole purpose of
     testifying to his knowledge of Freeman, and that he was well
     known to be free!" But Freeman was still kept in jail. After
     several days, Ellington brought witnessess to prove F. to be
     his slave. The witnesses, and Liston (counsel for Ellington)
     wished to have Freeman strip himself, to be examined naked.
     By advise of his counsel he refused. The marshal took him to
     his cell, and compelled him to strip. The witnesses then
     swore that he was Ellington's property. Freeman's counsel
     produced further evidence that he had been known as a free
     man _twenty_ years. Ellington claimed that he had escaped
     from him _sixteen_ years before. The man who did escape from
     Ellington, just sixteen years before, was discovered to be
     living near Malden, Canada. Two of the Kentucky witnesses
     visited and recognized him. Freeman was then released, but
     with a large debt upon him, $1,200, which had grown up by
     the unusually heavy expenses of his defence and long
     imprisonment, Freeman brought a suit against Ellington for
     false imprisonment laying damages at $10,000. A verdict for
     $2,000 was given in his favor, which was agreed to by
     Ellington's counsel.--_Indiana Free Democrat_, May, 1854.

     _Three slaves_, two men and a girl, fled from near Maysville,
     Kentucky, into Ohio. Were pursued by their owners and
     assistants, five men armed, and were overtaken, says the
     Maysville _Weekly Express_, "at the bridge over Rattlesnake
     Creek, on the Petersburg and Greenfield road, about ten
     o'clock at night," the slaves being, armed, and accompanied
     by a white man. Both parties fired, the negro girl was
     wounded, but still fled; one of the negro men was also
     wounded, and, says the Maysville paper, they "were tracked a
     mile and a half by the blood." The other slave was secured
     and taken back to Kentucky, "much bruised and cut in the
     affray." "The white man," says the same paper, "was also
     caught and beaten in a very severe manner with a club, and
     strong hopes are entertained that he will die."--_Wilmington
     (Ohio) Republican_, July, 22, 1853.

     _A colored girl_, between four and five years old, suddenly
     disappeared from Providence, R.I., July 13, 1853; at the same
     time, a mulatto woman, who had been heard to make inquiries
     about the child, was missing also. Believed to be a case of
     kidnapping.

     _A negro boy_, says the Memphis _Inquirer_, "left his owner
     in this city," and went on board the steamboat Aurilla Wood,
     bound for Cincinnati. By a telegraphic message he was
     intercepted, taken from the boat at Cairo, Illinois, and
     taken back to Memphis. (Summer, 1853.)

     GEORGE W. MCQUERRY, _Cincinnati, Ohio_. A colored man, who
     had resided three or four years in Ohio, and married a free
     woman, by whom he had three children, was remanded to slavery
     by Judge McLean (August, 1853.) The man was taken by the
     United States Marshal, with a posse, across the river to
     Covington, Kentucky, and there delivered to his _master_!

     _Two men kidnapped_ from Chicago, and taken to St. Louis. See
     _Chicago_ Tribune, quoted in _Standard_, Aug. 27, 1853.

     _Three Slaves_ taken by _Habeas Corpus_, from steamboat
     Tropic, and brought before Judge Flinn, at Cincinnati,
     August, 1853. The woman Hannah expressed a wish to return to
     her master in the boat. Judge Flinn ordered her into the
     custody of the claimants without investigation. Judge F.
     asked Hannah if she had the custody of the child Susan, to
     which she answered that she had. Whereupon the Judge also
     ordered her back into the custody of the claimants, without
     examination. Mr. Jolliffe protested against ordering the
     child back without examination. The Court said they would
     take the responsibility. The examination then proceeded in
     the case of the man Edward. It appeared that they were
     purchased in Virginia, to be conveyed to Mississippi. The
     boat stopped at Cincinnati, and the slaves were twice taken
     by the agent of the owners on shore, and upon the territory
     of Ohio. Mr. Jolliffe commenced his argument at 7, P.M., and
     argued that the slaves, being brought by their owners upon
     free territory, were legally free. Mr. J., before finishing,
     was taken ill, and obliged to leave the court-room; he first
     begged the Court to adjourn until morning, which was refused
     by Judge Flinn. Judge Keys said the Ohio river was a highway
     for all States bordering on it, whose citizens had a right
     also to use the adjacent shores for purposes necessary to
     navigation. Mr. Zinn stated that Mr. Jolliffe had been
     obliged to retire, in consequence of illness, and had
     requested him to urge the Court to continue the case. Judge
     Flinn said--"The case will he decided to-night; that is
     decided on. We have not been silting here four or five hours
     to determine whether we will decide the case or not. It will
     be decided, and you may come up to it sideways or square; or
     any way you please; you must come to it." Mr. Zinn said he
     was not going to argue. He had made the request out of
     courtesy to a professional brother. He doubted the power of
     the Court to deliver the boy into slavery. Judge Flinn
     said--"I do not wish to hear any arguments of that nature."
     The man was then ordered to be taken by the Sheriff, and
     delivered to claimant on board the boat,--which was
     done.--_Cincinnati Gazette_, 27th August, 1853.

     PATRICK SNEED, a colored waiter in the Cataract House,
     Niagara Falls, arrested on the pretended charge of murder
     committed in Savannah, Georgia. He was brought, by _Habeas
     Corpus_, before Judge Sheldon, at Buffalo, (September, 1853,)
     and by him ordered to be "fully discharged."

     BILL, [or WILLIAM THOMAS,] a colored waiter at the
     Phenix Hotel, Wilkesbarre, Penn., described as a "tall,
     noble-looking, intelligent, and active mulatto, nearly
     white," was attacked by "Deputy Marshal Wynkoop," Sept. 3,
     1853, and four other persons, (three of them from Virginia.)
     These men came "suddenly, from behind, knocked him down with
     a mace, and partially shackled him." He struggled hard
     against the five, shook them off, and with the handcuff,
     which had been secured to his right wrist only "inflicted
     some hard wounds on the countenances" of his assailants.
     Covered with blood, he broke from them, rushed from the
     house, and plunged in the river close by, exclaiming, "I will
     be drowned rather than taken alive." He was pursued, fired
     upon repeatedly, ordered to come out of the water, where he
     stood immersed to his neck, or "they would blow his brains
     out." He replied, "I will die first." They then deliberately
     fired at him four or five different times, the last ball
     supposed to have struck on his head, for his face was
     instantly covered with blood, and he sprang up and shrieked.
     The by-standers began to cry "shame" and the kidnappers
     retired a short distance for consultation. Bill came out of
     the water and lay down on the shore. His pursuers, supposing
     him dying, said, "Dead niggers are not worth taking South."
     Some one brought and put on him a pair of pantaloons. He was
     helped to his feet by a colored man named Rex; on seeing
     which, Wynkoop and party headed him and presented their
     revolvers, when BILL again ran into the river, "where he
     remained upwards of an hour, nothing but his head above
     water, covered with blood, and in full view of hundreds who
     lined the banks." His claimants dared not follow him into
     the water; for, as he said afterward, "he would have died
     contented, could he have carried two or three of them down
     with him." Preparations [rather slow it would appear,] were
     made to arrest the murderous gang, but they had departed
     from the place. BILL then waded some distance up the stream,
     and "was found by some women flat on his face in a
     corn-field. They carried him to a place of safety, dressed
     his wounds," and the suffering man was seen no more in
     Wilkesbarre.--_Correspondence of New York Tribune_.

Wynkoop and another were afterwards arrested in Philadelphia, on a
charge of riot, the warrant issuing from a State magistrate of
Wilkesbarre, on the complaint of William C. Gildersleeve, of the
place. Mr. Jackson, the constable who held them in custody, was
brought before Judge Grier, of the United States Supreme Court, by
_habeas corpus_. Judge Grier, during the examination, said:--

     "I will not have the officers of the United States harassed
     at every step in the performance of their duties by every
     petty magistrate who chooses to harass them, or by any
     unprincipled interloper who chooses to make complaints
     against them--for I know something of the man who makes this
     complaint." "If this man Gildersleeve fails to make out the
     facts set forth in the warrant of arrest, I will request the
     Prosecuting Attorney of Luzerne County to prosecute him
     for  perjury. * * * If any tuppenny magistrate, or any
     unprincipled interloper can come in, and cause to be arrested
     the officers of the United States, whenever they please, it
     is a sad affair. * * * If _habeas corpuses_ are to be taken
     out alter that manner, I will have an indictment sent to the
     United States Grand Jury against the person who applies for
     the writ, or assists in getting it, the lawyer who defends
     it, and the sheriff who serves the writ. * * * I will see
     that my officers are protected." On a subsequent day, Judge
     Grier gave an elaborate opinion, reciting the facts in the
     case, _as stated by the prisoners_, and ordering them to be
     _discharged_! He said:--"We are unable to perceive, in this
     transaction, anything worthy of blame in the conduct of these
     officers in their unsuccessful endeavors to fulfil a most
     dangerous and disgusting duty; except, perhaps, a want of
     sufficient courage and perseverance in the attempt to execute
     the writ!"

Wynkoop and the other were discharged by Judge Kane on the ground that
they did only what their duty, under the Law, required. (May, 1854.)

     _A family of colored persons_, at Uniontown, Pa., were
     claimed as slaves by a man in Virginia. They admitted that
     they had been his slaves, but declared that they had come
     into Pennsylvania with their master's consent and knowledge,
     on a visit to some friends in Fayette County, and were not,
     therefore, _fugitives_. This was overruled, and the negroes
     were sent back by a United States Commissioner, name not
     given. (September, 1853.)[A]--_Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter_.

     [Footnote A: _A correspondent_ of the _New York Evening
     Post_, writing from Columbus, Ohio, September 1, 1853, states
     that a very large number of fugitive slaves are continually
     passing through that State; that they are generally armed;
     and that they find increasing sympathy among the people on
     the road, and the boatmen on the lakes.]

     _A desperate fight_ between a party of four fugitives and
     about double the number of whites, took place in Carroll
     County, Maryland. Four white men shot--none dangerously. Two
     of the slaves wounded, one severely. They were captured.
     (October, 1853.)--_Westminster (Md.) Democrat_.

     _Washington, Indiana._ In April, 1853, GEORGE, a negro man,
     was arrested and claimed by a Mr. Rice, of Kentucky, as his
     slave. Judge Clemens ordered his surrender to Rice, who took
     him to Louisville, and there sold him to a slave-trader, who
     took him to Memphis, Tennessee. Here a man from Mississippi
     claimed that George was _his_ slave, obtained a writ of
     replevin, and took possession of him.

     JOSHUA GLOVER, colored man, claimed as the slave of B.S.
     Garland, of St. Louis County, Missouri, was arrested near
     Racine, Wisconsin, about the 10th of March, 1854. Arrest made
     by five men, who burst suddenly into his shanty, put a pistol
     to his head, felled him to the ground, handcuffed him, and
     took him in a wagon to Milwaukee jail, a distance of
     twenty-five miles. They swore that if he shouted or made the
     least noise, they would kill him instantly. When visited,
     says the _Milwaukee Sentinel_, "We found him in his cell. He
     was cut in two places on the head; the front of his shirt and
     vest were soaking and stiff with his own blood." A writ of
     _habeas corpus_ was immediately issued; also a warrant for
     the arrest of the five men who assaulted and beat him in his
     shanty. Thousands of people collected around the jail and
     court-house, "the excitement being intense." A vigilance
     committee of twenty-five persons was appointed to watch the
     jail at night and see that Glover was not secretly taken
     away. The next day, at about five o'clock, P.M., a
     considerable accession of persons being made to the crowd,
     and it appearing that every attempt to save Glover by the
     laws of Wisconsin had been overruled by United States Judge
     Miller, a demand was made for the man. This being refused, an
     attack was made upon the door with axes, planks, &c. It was
     broken in, the inner door and wall broken through, and Glover
     taken from his keepers, brought out, placed in a wagon, and
     driven off at great speed.

     S.M. Booth, editor of the _Milwaukee Free Democrat_, Charles
     Clement, of the _Racine Advocate_, W.H. Waterman, and George
     S. Wright were arrested for aiding and abetting the rescue of
     Glover. Booth was subsequently discharged by the Supreme
     Court of Wisconsin, on the ground that the Fugitive Slave Law
     is unconstitutional. He was, however, re-arrested, and held
     to answer in the United States Courts, on the same charge;
     the offered bail was refused, and he was lodged in jail. The
     case was subsequently tried before the District Court of the
     United States, at Milwaukee, on the question as to the right
     of a State judiciary to release prisoners under a writ of
     _habeas corpus_, who may be in the lawful custody of United
     States officers; and also to determine the constitutionality
     of the Fugitive Slave Law. (_Washington Star_, September 20,
     1854.) The Attorney General, Caleb Cushing, made himself very
     active in pushing forward this case. Mr. Booth, early in
     1855, was fined one thousand dollars and sentenced to one
     month's imprisonment. John Ryecraft, for same offence, was
     sentenced in a fine of two hundred dollars and imprisonment
     for ten days. All for acts such as Christianity and Humanity
     enjoin. On a writ of _habeas corpus_, Messrs. Booth and
     Ryecraft were taken before the Wisconsin Supreme Court,
     sitting at Madison, and discharged from imprisonment. This,
     however, did not relieve them from the fines imposed by the
     United States Court. The owner of the slave brought a civil
     suit against Mr. Booth, claiming $1,000 damages for the loss
     of his slave. Judge Miller decided, July, 1855, that the
     $1,000 must be paid.

     EDWARD DAVIS, _March, 1854_. As the steamboat Keystone State,
     Captain Hardie, from Savannah, was entering Delaware Bay,
     bound to Philadelphia, the men engaged in heaving the lead
     heard a voice from under the guards of the boat, calling for
     help. A rope was thrown, and a man caught it and was drawn
     into the boat in a greatly exhausted state. He had remained
     in that place from the time of leaving Savannah, the water
     frequently sweeping over him. Some bread in his pocket was
     saturated with salt water and dissolved to a pulp. The
     captain ordered the vessel to be put in to Newcastle,
     Delaware, where the fugitive, hardly able to stand, was taken
     on shore and put in jail, to await the orders of his owner,
     in Savannah. DAVIS claimed to be a free man, and a native of
     Philadelphia, and described many localities there. Before
     Judge Bradford, at Newcastle, Davis's freedom was fully
     proved, and he was discharged. He was again arrested and
     placed in jail on the oath of Captain Hardie, that he
     believed him to be a fugitive slave and a fugitive from
     justice. After some weeks' delay, he was brought to trial
     before United States Commissioner Samuel Guthrie, who ordered
     him to be delivered up to his claimant on the ground that he
     was legally a slave, though free-born. It appeared in
     evidence that Davis had formerly gone from Pennsylvania to
     reside in Maryland, contrary to the laws of that State; which
     forbid free colored persons from other States to come there
     to reside; and being unable to pay the fine imposed for this
     offence (!) by the Orphan's (!) Court of Harford County, was
     committed to jail and sold as a slave for life, by Robert
     McGaw, Sheriff of the County, to Dr. John G. Archer, of
     Louisiana, from whom he was sold to B.M. Campbell, who sold
     him to William A. Dean, of Macon, Georgia, the present
     claimant. Thus a free-born citizen of Pennsylvania was
     consigned, _by law_ to slavery for life:

[-->In May, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was enacted.]

     ANTHONY BURNS, arrested in Boston, May 24, 1854, as the slave
     of Charles F. Suttle, of Alexandria, Virginia, who was
     present to claim him, accompanied by a witness from Richmond,
     Virginia, named William Brent. Burns was arrested on a
     warrant granted by United States Commissioner Edward Greeley
     Loring, taken to the court-house in Boston, ironed, and
     placed in an upper story room under a strong guard. The
     hearing commenced the next morning before Mr. Loring, but was
     adjourned until Saturday; May 27, to give the counsel for A.
     Burns time to examine the case. On Friday evening, (26th,) an
     attack was made upon the court-house by a body of men, with
     the evident design of rescuing Burns; a door was forced in,
     and one of the marshal's special guard, (named Batchelder,)
     was killed, whether by the assailants or by one of his own
     party is uncertain, it being quite dark; upon the cry of
     Batchelder that he was killed, the attacking party retreated
     and made no further attempt. The trial of the case proceeded
     on Saturday, again on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, when
     the Commissioner said he would give his decision on Friday.
     During the trial, Burns was continually surrounded by a
     numerous body-guard, (said to be at least one hundred and
     twenty-five men,) selected by Watson Freeman, United States
     Marshal, from the vilest sinks of scoundrelism, corruption,
     and crime in the city to be Deputy Marshals for the occasion.
     These men, with every form of loathsome impurity and
     hardened villainy stamped upon their faces, sat constantly
     around the prisoner while in the court-room, the handles of
     pistols and revolvers visibly protruding from their breast
     pockets. A company of United States troops, from the Navy
     Yard, occupied the court-house, and guarded all avenues to
     the United States court-room. The testimony of numerous
     highly respectable witnesses was adduced to show that Anthony
     Burns was in Boston a month earlier than the time at which he
     was said to have left Richmond. R.H. Dana, Jr. and Charles M.
     Ellis, counsel for Burns, made very eloquent and able
     arguments in his behalf. Seth J. Thomas and E.G. Parker were
     the counsel for Suttle, the case being constantly watched and
     aided by the United States District Attorney, Benjamin F.
     Hallett, who was in regular telegraphic communication with
     the President of the United States, (F. Pierce,) at
     Washington. An effort was made, and followed up with much
     patience, to buy Burns's freedom, Suttle having offered to
     sell him for $1,200. The money was raised and tendered to
     Suttle, when difficulties were interposed, especially by Mr.
     Attorney Hallett, and the attempt failed. Suttle afterwards
     declared he would not sell Burns for any sum, but that he
     should go back to Virginia. On Friday morning, June 2d,
     Commissioner Loring gave his decision, overriding all the
     testimony in Burns's favor, using certain expressions which
     fell from Burns in the first heat and confusion of his
     arrest, as testimony against him, and concluding with
     ordering him to be delivered up to the claimant. Some four
     hours were consumed in getting Court Street, State Street,
     &c., in a state of readiness for the removal of the prisoner.
     A regiment of Massachusetts Infantry had been posted on
     Boston Common, under command of Col. Benjamin Franklin (!)
     Edmands, from an early hour of the day, in anticipation of
     the Commissioner's decision. These troops, which had been
     called out by the Mayor, Jerome V.C. Smith, were marched to
     the scene of the kidnapping, and so placed as to guard every
     street, lane, and other avenue leading to State Street, &c.,
     the route through which the slave procession was to pass. No
     individual was suffered to pass within these guards; but acts
     of violence were committed by them on several individuals.
     Court Square was occupied by two companies of United States
     troops, (chiefly Irishmen,) and a large field-piece was drawn
     into the centre. All preparations being made, Watson Freeman
     (United States Marshal) issued forth from the court-house
     with his prisoner, who walked with a firm step, surrounded by
     the body-guard of criminals before mentioned, with drawn
     United States sabres in their hands, and followed by United
     States troops with the aforesaid piece of artillery. Preceded
     by a company of Massachusetts mounted troops, under command
     of Colonel Isaac H. Wright, this infamous procession took its
     way down Court Street, State Street and Commerce Street, (for
     the proprietors of Long Wharf refused to allow them to march
     upon their premises, through a public highway in all ordinary
     cases,) to the T Wharf, where the prisoner was taken on board
     a steam tow-boat, and conveyed down the harbor to the United
     States Revenue Cutter Morris; in which he was transported to
     Virginia.

     It may not be amiss to have given, in a single instance, this
     somewhat detailed account of the process of seizing, trying,
     and delivering up a man into slavery, whose only crime was
     that he had fled from a bondage "one hour of which is fraught
     with more misery than ages of that which our fathers rose in
     rebellion to throw off," Thomas Jefferson, the Virginian
     slaveholder, himself being witness.

     Anthony Burns, having been sold into North Carolina, was
     afterwards purchased with money subscribed in Boston and
     vicinity, for the purpose, and returned to Boston.

     The _illegality_ of the Mayor's conduct in ordering out the
     military, and giving to the Colonel of the regiment the
     entire control of the same, was fully shown by different and
     highly competent writers, among whom was P.W. Chandler, Esq.,
     whose two articles, in the _Boston Advertiser_, deserve to be
     remembered with respect. The Mayor's excuse was that he
     desired to _keep the peace_. But these Massachusetts troops
     received pay for their day's work from the United States
     Government. Judge HOAR, in a charge to the Grand Jury,
     declared the act of the Mayor, in calling out the militia, to
     be an infraction of law.


     STEPHEN PEMBROKE, and his two sons, _Robert_ and _Jacob_,
     19 and 17 years of age, were arrested in New York almost
     simultaneously with the seizure of Burns in Boston; claimed
     as the slaves of David Smith and Jacob H. Grove, of
     Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland. They escaped May
     1st, and came to New York, followed closely by their masters,
     who discovered their retreat in Thompson Street, and pounced
     upon them by night. At 8-1/2 o'clock, next morning, they were
     taken before United States Commissioner G.W. Morton, "where
     the case came up for the most summary and hasty hearing that
     has ever characterized our judicial proceedings." Dunning and
     Smith were counsel for the masters, but the fugitives had no
     counsel; and the hearing was finished, and a warrant granted
     to the slave claimants before the matter became known in the
     city. When Mr. Jay and Mr. Culver hastened to the court-room
     to offer their services to the prisoners, as counsel, they
     were assured by officers, _and by Commissioner Morton
     himself_, that the men wanted no counsel, and were not in the
     building. On search, however, it was found they were in the
     building, locked up in a room. They said they desired counsel
     and the aid of friends. A writ of _habeas corpus_ was
     obtained, but before it could be served the three men had
     been removed from the State, and were on their way to
     Baltimore. [See the published. Card of E.D. CULVER, Esq.]
     Stephen Pembroke was the brother, and his sons the nephews
     of Rev. Dr. Pennington, of New York City, Pastor of a
     Presbyterian (colored) Church. Stephen Pembroke was purchased
     and brought back to New York, ($1,000 having been contributed
     for that purpose,) and related his experience of the slave's
     life, at a public meeting, held in the Broadway Tabernacle,
     July 17, 1854. His sons had been sold, and remained in
     slavery.

     JAMES COTES, free man of color, residing in Gibson County,
     Indiana, went to Jeffersonville, (Ind.,) to take the cars for
     Indianapolis. On going to the depot, at 6, A.M., for the
     morning train, he was knocked down, "beat over the head with
     a brick-bat, and cut with a bowie-knife, until subdued. He
     was then tied, and in open daylight in full view of our
     populace, borne off bleeding like a hog." He was undoubtedly
     taken to the jail, in Louisville. On crossing the river to
     Louisville he met the captain of a steamboat, who knew him to
     be a free man. (About June 1, 1854.) The kidnapper was
     arrested and held to bail in the sum of $1,000, to take his
     trial at next Circuit Court.

     _Near Cedarville, Ohio, May 25, 1854_, about noon, "a colored
     man, of middle age and respectable appearance, was walking on
     the Columbus and Xenia turnpike. He was alone. A man in a
     buggy overtook him, and invited him to ride, saying he was a
     friend to the colored man, and promising to assist him in
     obtaining his liberty." He took the colored man to the house
     of one Chapman, "three miles south of Selma, in Greene
     county." There Chapman and the other, (whose name was William
     McCord,) fell upon the colored man, struck him with a _colt_
     upon the head, so that he bled severely, and bound his hands
     behind him. "Soon after the negro got loose and ran down the
     road; McCord ran after him, crying 'Catch the d----d horse
     thief,' &c., Chapman and his son following; negro picked up
     a stone, the man a club and struck him on the head, so that
     he did not throw the stone. He was then tied, and helped
     by McCord and Chapman to walk to the buggy. McCord asked
     Chapman, the son, to accompany him to Cincinnati with the
     colored man, promising to give him half the reward ($200) if
     he would. They then started, driving very fast." "We had not
     gone over two or three miles," said Chapman, "before the
     negro died, and after taking him two or three miles further,
     put him out, and left him as now discovered,"--viz. in a
     thick wood, one mile south of Clifton. The above facts are
     taken from the testimony given at the coroner's inquest
     over the body. "The jury gave in substance the following
     verdict:--Deceased came to his death by blows from a colt
     and club in the hands of one William McCord, assisted by
     the two Chapmans." Chapman, the son, said that McCord made
     him a proposition to join and follow kidnapping for a
     business, stating that he knew where he could get four
     victims immediately. McCord was taken and lodged in Xenia
     jail. The Chapmans bound over to take their trial for
     kidnapping.--_Wilmington (Ohio) Herald of Freedom_.

     _Columbus, Indiana._ A Kentuckian endeavored to entice a
     little negro boy to go with him, and both were waiting to
     take the cars, when mischief was suspected, and a crowd of
     people proceeded to the depot, and made the kidnapper
     release his intended victim. (June, 1854.)--_Indiana Free
     Democrat_.

     ---- BROWN, a resident of Henderson, Kentucky, was arrested
     for aiding four female slaves to escape from Union County,
     Kentucky, to Canada. United States Marshal Ward and Sheriff
     Gavitt, of Indiana, made the arrest. He was lodged in
     Henderson jail.--_Evansville (Ind.) Journal_, June 2, 1854.

     Several Kentucky planters, among them Archibald Dixon, raised
     $500 in order to secure Brown's conviction and sentence to
     penitentiary.

     [Transcriber's note: The following note appears as a footnote
     to this section without specific reference to any of the
     cited cases.]

     --> The case of SOLOMON NORTHUP, though not under the
     Fugitive Law, is so striking an illustration of the power
     which created that law, and of the constant danger which
     impends over every colored citizen of the Northern States,
     fast threatening to include white citizens also, that it must
     not he passed over without mention. He was kidnapped in 1841,
     from the State of New York, and kept in slavery twelve years.
     Two men, named Merrill and Russell, were arrested and tried
     as his kidnappers, and the fact fully proven. But the case
     was got into the United States Courts, and the criminals went
     unpunished. [end of note]

     _Nine slaves_ left their masters in Boone County, Kentucky,
     on Sunday, June 11, 1854, having three horses with them.
     Arrived at the river, they turned the horses back, and taking
     a skiff crossed at midnight to the Ohio shore. After
     travelling two or three miles, they hid during Monday in a
     clump of bushes. At night they started northward again. A
     man, named John Gyser, met them and promised to assist them.
     He took them to a stable, where they were to remain until
     night. He immediately went to Covington, Kentucky, learned
     that $1,000 reward was offered for their apprehension, and
     gave information of their place of concealment. At evening a
     strong band of Kentuckians, with United States Deputy Marshal
     George Thayer, assisted by three Cincinnati officers,
     surrounded the stable and took the nine prisoners, on a
     warrant issued by United States Commissioner Pendery. They
     were all given up to their claimants, and taken back to
     Kentucky.

     _A New Orleans correspondent of the New York Tribune_, in a
     letter dated July 3, 1854, writes, "During a recent trip up
     the river I was on several steamers, and on every boat they
     had one or more runaway slaves, who had been caught and were
     being taken in _irons_ to their _masters_."

     _On the Steamer Alvin Adams_, at Madison, Indiana, a man was
     arrested as a fugitive and taken to Louisville, Kentucky.
     He was claimed as the slave of John H. Page, of Bowling
     Green. The _Louisville Journal_, edited by a Northern man,
     stigmatised him as a "rascal," for his attempt to be free.
     (July, 1854.)

     _Two colored men_, on their way to Chicago, were seized and
     taken from the cars at Lasalle, Illinois, by three men, who
     said they were not officers. The colored men were known to
     be free; one was "a respectable resident of Chicago." Some of
     the passengers interfered; but it being night, and very dark,
     and the cars starting on the colored men were left in the
     hands of their kidnappers.

     _Chicago, Illinois._ Three men from Missouri, with a warrant
     from the Governor of that State, to take a certain fugitive
     slave, seized a man whom they met in the street, bound him
     with a handkerchief, and to quicken his steps beat him with
     the butt of a pistol. He succeeded in shaking off his captors
     and fled, a pistol-bullet being sent after him, which did not
     hit him. He made good his escape. The men were arrested and
     held to trial for assault with deadly weapons. By an
     extraordinary conspiracy on the part of District Attorney
     Hoyne, Sheriff Bradley, and others, these men were taken from
     jail to be carried to Springfield, Illinois, two hundred
     miles distant, to appear before Chief Justice Treat, that he
     might inquire "whether said alleged kidnappers were justly
     held to bail and imprisoned." It was so suddenly done that
     the counsel for the kidnapped man and for the State of
     Illinois had not time to reach Springfield before the men
     were discharged and on their way to Missouri. The Grand Jury
     of the County (in which Chicago is) had found a true bill
     against them, of which the Sheriff professed to be ignorant,
     (which was deemed hardly possible,)--under which bill they
     would probably have been convicted and sentenced to the State
     Prison. Thus the omnipotent Slave Power reaches forth its
     hand into our most Northern cities, end saves its minions
     from the punishment which their lawless acts have justly
     merited.--_Chicago Daily Tribune_, Sept. 21, 1854.

--> The three kidnappers published a statement in the _St. Louis
Republican_ of September 26.

     HENRY MASSEY, at Philadelphia, September, 1854, was brought
     before United States Commissioner E.D. Ingraham, claimed by
     Franklin Bright, of Queen Anne's County, Maryland, as his
     slave. Arrested in Harrisburg.

     HARVEY, arrested near Cumminsville, Ohio,--escaped,--taken
     again in Goshen, about ten miles from Cincinnati, and lodged
     in the jail of that city. An investigation of the case was
     had before United States Commissioner Pendery, and the
     slave remanded to the custody of his master.--_Cincinnati
     Commercial_, September 22, 1854.

     _Byberry, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1854._ A carriage load
     of suspicious looking men came to this place in the
     afternoon. They waited until nightfall, when they burst into
     the house of a colored family, "seized the man in presence of
     his wife and another woman, threatening to shoot them if they
     interfered--dragged him out, beating him over the head with a
     mace. The poor fellow continued to scream for help until his
     voice was stifled by his groans; they forced him into their
     carriage and drove off, before any effectual assistance
     could be offered." He was a sober and industrious man, and
     much respected. His wife was left heartbroken, with one
     child.--_Norristown (Pa.) Olive Branch_.

     _The Frankfort (Ky.) Yeoman_, of November 18, 1854,
     said:--"Kidnapping free negroes in Ohio, and deluding our
     slaves from their masters to recapture and sell them, is an
     established profession of a gang located upon the borders of
     the Ohio River, combining with negro-traders in the interior
     of this State." The names of some employed in this business
     are given, two of whom, having been arrested and imprisoned,
     threatened to burn the city of Frankfort for interrupting
     their business.

     JANE MOORE, a free colored woman, at Cincinnati, November,
     1854, seized in the house of her sister, (Sycamore Street,)
     beaten, and with the help of a deputy marshal from Covington,
     Kentucky, carried over to Covington, and lodged in jail,
     on pretence of her being a fugitive slave. She was taken
     before the Mayor of Covington, "who heard the case with
     impartiality." Her freedom was established, and she released.

     _At Indianapolis, Indiana, December, 1854_, Benjamin B.
     Waterhouse was indicted for harboring fugitive slaves,
     contrary to the provisions of the Fugitive Law. He was found
     guilty, but the jury recommended him "to the favorable
     consideration of the Court, and stated that the evidence was
     barely sufficient to convict." He was fined fifty dollars and
     to be imprisoned one hour, and the government to pay the
     costs.---_Chicago Tribune_.

     _A Proposition for Kidnapping_, on a large scale, was made by
     John H. Pope, "police officer and constable," in a letter
     dated "Frederick, Maryland, United States of America, January
     1, 1855," and addressed to Mr. Hays, Sheriff of Montreal,
     Canada. "Vast numbers of slaves," says Mr. Pope, "escaping
     from their masters or owners, succeed in reaching your
     Provinces, and are, therefore, without the pale of the
     'Fugitive Slave Law,' and can only be restored by cunning,
     together with skill. Large rewards are offered and will be
     paid for their return, and could I find an efficient person
     to act with me, a great deal of money could be made, as I
     would equally divide. * * * The only apprehension we have in
     approaching too far into Canada is the fear of being
     arrested; and had I a good assistant in your city, who would
     induce the negroes to the frontier, I would be there to pay
     the cash. On your answer, I can furnish names and
     descriptions of negroes."

This letter was published, doubtless at the Montreal Sheriff's
request, in the _Montreal Gazette_, January 13, 1855.

--> The _Montreal Gazette_, of February 3, published a second letter
from J.H. Pope.

     _A warrant was issued in Boston_, January 10, 1855, by United
     States Commissioner Charles Levi Woodbury, for the arrest of
     JOHN JACKSON, as a fugitive from service and labor in
     Georgia. Mr. Jackson, who had been for some time in the city,
     was nowhere to be found.

     ROSETTA ARMSTEAD, a colored girl, was taken by writ of
     _habeas corpus_ before Judge Jamison, at Columbus, Ohio.
     Rosetta formerly belonged to Ex-President John Tyler, who
     _gave her_ to his daughter, the wife of Rev. Henry M.
     Dennison, an Episcopal clergyman of Louisville, Kentucky.
     Mrs. D. having deceased, Rosetta was to be sent back to
     Virginia in care of an infant child, both being placed in
     charge of a Dr. Miller, a friend of Mr. Dennison. Passing
     through Ohio, the above writ was obtained. Rosetta expressed
     her desire to remain in freedom in Ohio. The case was removed
     to Cincinnati, and was delayed until Mr. Dennison could
     arrive from Louisville. (_Ohio State Journal_, March 12,
     1855.) The girl was set free; "but was again arrested by the
     United States Marshal upon the same warrant which Judge
     Parker had declared illegal; thereupon another _habeas
     corpus_ was issued, which the Marshal refused to obey; when
     he was fined $50, and imprisoned for contempt." Even United
     States Commissioner Pendery, before whom the case was brought
     as that of a fugitive slave, pronounced the girl free, and
     she was placed in the care of a guardian. The United States
     Marshal being taken by _habeas corpus_ before Judge McLean,
     of the United States Supreme Court, was set at liberty, Judge
     McL. alleging that the proceedings in the State Court were
     null and void!

     GEORGE CLARK, a colored boy, eighteen years of age, in
     Pennsylvania, was decoyed into the house of one Thompson,
     (February 23, 1855,) where he was seized by three men, one of
     whom was Solomon Snyders, a well known ruffian and kidnapper
     in the neighborhood, who said to him, "Now, George, I am
     going to take you to your master." The screams of George
     fortunately brought deliverance to him. The three men were
     arrested, tried, and sentenced to imprisonment for
     kidnapping, by the Court of Dauphin County.--_Norristown
     (Penn.) Olive Branch_.

     _The Norristown (Penn.) Olive Branch_, (in connection with
     the last named case,) speaks of a case which had occurred a
     short time before, under the Fugitive Law, before United
     States Commissioner McAllister, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
     and which has not yet been mentioned in this record. A
     colored man and his wife, with their infant child, were
     taken, "one morning, very early," before Commissioner Richard
     McAllister, and before any counsel could reach the spot the
     case had been decided against the man and woman; but the
     babe, having been born in Pennsylvania, they did not "dare to
     send that" into slavery; "so the only alternative was to take
     it away from its mother," which was done, and that evening
     the man and woman were taken South. No time had been allowed
     to bring forward witnesses in their behalf, and there was
     only a single witness against them, and he a boy about
     seventeen years old, and a relative of the slave-claimant.
     The woman's sufferings, on account of the separation from
     her child, seemed greater than for her own fate. The article
     from the Norristown paper is in the _National Anti-Slavery
     Standard_, June 2, 1855.

     GEORGE MITCHELL, a young colored man, at San Jose,
     California, arrested and taken before Justice Allen, April,
     1855, "charged with owing service and labor to one Jesse C.
     Cooper, of Tennessee." Mitchell was brought into California
     by his then owner, in 1849, the year before the enactment of
     the Fugitive Slave Law. His arrest was made, under a Fugitive
     Slave Law of California. By _habeas corpus_ the case was
     carried before Judge C.P. Hester, of the District Court.
     Mitchell was discharged on the ground (we believe) that the
     California Law was unconstitutional; also that the
     proceedings were "absolutely void." On the 21st April (or
     May) "another attempt was made to reduce George to slavery at
     San Francisco." He was brought before the United States
     District Court, Judge Hoffman presiding, claimed under the
     United States Fugitive Law as the property of the above-named
     Cooper. [The result of the trial not known.]--_San Jose
     Telegraph_.

     _At Dayville, Connecticut_, June 13, 1855, an attempt was
     made to seize a fugitive slave; "but the citizens interfered
     and the fugitive escaped." He was claimed by a resident of
     Pomfret, who said he had bought him in Cuba.--_Hartford
     Religious Herald_.

     _At Burlington, Iowa_, a colored man, called DICK, was
     arrested and taken before United States Commissioner Frazee.
     "Much excitement was caused." He was claimed as belonging to
     Thomas Ruthford, Clark County, Missouri. Dick was discharged
     as not being the man claimed. (June, 1855.)

     _A white girl_, fourteen years of age, daughter of Mr. Samuel
     Godshall, of Downingtown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, while
     walking upon the road, was seized by two men, a plaster put
     upon her mouth, and she taken in a close carriage in the
     direction of Maryland. After going twelve miles, they put her
     out of the carriage, "in a secluded and woody portion of the
     country, threatening to kill her if she made any alarm, when
     they drove away as fast as they could." Some colored people
     met her, got the plaster off her mouth, and aided her
     home. It was supposed the kidnappers mistook her for a
     mulatto girl; but discovering their blunder dismissed
     her.--_Philadelphia Ledger_, July 9, 1855.

     _The Norristown (Penn.) Herald_ relates a case similar to the
     preceding. Benjamin Johnson, a white lad of fifteen, on his
     way from his father's, at Evansburg, to S. Jarrett's, near
     Jeffersonville, was invited to ride by a man in a carriage.
     The man took him by an unusual route; night coming on, the
     boy was alarmed and attempted to escape, "when the villain
     caught him and drove off at full speed, and by threats and
     blows prevented him from making any alarm." He drove to a
     distance of fifteen miles beyond Jeffersonville, when the boy
     succeeded in making his escape. (July, 1855.)

     JANE JOHNSON, and her two sons, (colored,) brought into
     Philadelphia (on their way to New York and thence to
     Nicaragua) by John H. Wheeler. Stopped to dine at Bloodgood's
     Hotel. Jane there made known her desire to be free.
     Information of the same was conveyed to Passmore Williamson,
     Secretary of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, an old
     association founded by Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, and
     others. Mr. Williamson went to the hotel, and found that the
     party had gone to the steamboat, at the foot of Walnut
     Street. He proceeded thither, found them, and told the mother
     that she and her sons had been legally made free by being
     brought by their master into a free State. After some delay,
     Jane rose to leave the boat. Wheeler endeavored to detain
     her. Williamson held Wheeler back, and the woman went on
     shore, a number of colored persons taking up the boys and
     carrying them from the boat. They were enabled to escape.
     (July 18, 1855.)

     The celebrated case of PASSMORE WILLIAMSON followed, before
     Judge Kane, of the United States District Court. (See "Case
     of Passmore Williamson," reported in full, and published in
     Philadelphia, by Uriah Hunt & Son, 1856.) On the 27th July,
     Mr. Williamson was committed to Moyamensing Prison, by Judge
     Kane, "for a contempt of the court in refusing to answer to
     the writ of _habeas corpus_;" Mr. W. _having answered_ that
     he had not, and never had had, the custody of the three
     alleged slaves, and therefore could not produce them in
     court. Mr. Williamson was kept in prison until November 3d,
     when he was discharged by Judge Kane, the technical
     "contempt" having been removed.

     CELESTE, a mulatto woman, claimed as a slave, before Judge
     Burgoyne, Cincinnati, Ohio. It appeared that she was
     brought to Cincinnati by her master, and she was set
     free.--_Cincinnati Gazette_, July 7, 1855.

     _Two fugitives_, in Indiana, (September, 1855,) requested aid
     of the conductor of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad.
     The aid given was to take them back to Madison, whence they
     were conveyed over the river to Kentucky. Before leaving that
     State they had been hunted and attacked by dogs. These they
     had despatched with their knives. The conductor was dismissed
     from his position. An agent of the express company was said
     to have aided him in the surrender of the men.--_Madison
     Courier_.

     JACK, a colored boy, nine years of age, "claimed by Joseph
     Tucker, of Mobile, as his slave, was sent back to his master
     from Boston, in the brig Selma, Captain Rogers, on the 18th
     inst." (October, 1855.)--_Boston Times_.

     JACOB GREEN, a colored man, was seized near Hollidaysburg,
     Pennsylvania, by one Parsons, as a fugitive slave.
     Parsons could show no authority for detaining Green, who,
     with the help of some bystanders, released himself and
     escaped.--_Hollidaysburg Standard_, October 24, 1855.

     _Four men indicted for kidnapping_ at Greensburg, Indiana,
     in the Spring of 1855. Their names--David and Thomas Maple,
     Morrison, and McCloskey. Charged with kidnapping two men,
     whom they conveyed to a slave state, and sold as slaves. The
     two Maples, fearing the indictment, absconded. The other two
     were arrested, and brought to trial in October, 1855, at the
     State Court, before Judge Logan. "Defendants' counsel moved
     to quash the indictment, for the reason that the section of
     the statute of Indiana against kidnapping was in violation of
     the acts of Congress, and, therefore, void; and the Court
     accordingly quashed the indictment"--_Indianapolis Journal_.

     _Eight fugitives from Kentucky_ reached Adams County, Ohio,
     closely followed by several Kentuckians, who attempted to
     search the houses of several of the citizens. "The people,
     indignant at this outrage, assembled with arms, and placed an
     injunction upon these summary proceedings." "The men-hunters
     then offered $2,000 to any traitor who would betray the
     fugitives into their hands. But, so far as we have learned,
     the bribe was as unsuccessful as the attempted search."
     (November, 1855.)--_Carroll Free Press_.

     _At Wilson's Corner, Bensalem, Buck's County, Pa._, Dec. 13,
     1855, a colored man in the employ of John Henderson was
     seized by three men, who tied him, threw him into a wagon,
     and drove off at full speed. They were seen, and quickly
     followed by men on horseback. After two hours' hard riding,
     the kidnappers were overtaken. A fight ensued--the black man
     was released; when three pistol-shots were fired by the
     kidnappers, killing a horse, and wounding one of the rescuing
     party severely. A statement of the facts was published, as
     an advertisement, in the _Philadelphia Ledger_, signed by
     William Williams and John Henderson.

     "_Two very bright mulatto girls_," says the _Staunton (Va.)
     Spectator_, "one belonging to Mr. John Churchman, and the
     other to the estate of Colonel Crawford, deceased, took the
     cars at Staunton, on the morning of December 30, 1855, and
     made their way successfully to Baltimore, en route for a free
     State. At Baltimore they were detected just as they were
     about to take the train for Philadelphia, and information of
     their arrest was immediately forwarded to D. Churchman, of
     this place." On the following Friday they were taken back to
     Virginia. "They were so nearly white that their success in
     imposing upon the conductors of the cars is not astonishing,
     and the only wonder is that they were detected at all. Since
     their return, the negro girls have been sold--Mr. Churchman's
     for $1,050, and the other for $950."

     FANNY, a colored child of fire years old, was taken from
     Chicago, Illinois, into Tennessee, and sold for $250. A man
     named F.M. Chapman, with his servant William R. Tracy, were
     arrested as the kidnappers, and taken before Justice DeWolf.
     Chapman claimed to have owned the child in Arkansas, and to
     have brought her to Illinois [thereby making her free.] He
     procured Tracy to take the child to Tennessee and sell her.
     The result of the case not known. (January, 1856.)

     _Two fugitives_, passing through Ohio, (January, 1856,) were
     closely pursued and nearly overtaken at Columbus, Ohio. "Ten
     minutes previous warning only saved the fugitives from their
     pursuers." Deputy Marshal J. Underwood, being called on to
     act in the case, refused, and resigned his office, saying, he
     did not expect to be "called upon to help execute the odious
     Fugitive Slave Law."--_Cincinnati Commercial_.

[--> The following may, not improperly, find a place here.]

     The House of Delegates of Virginia, early in 1856, adopted
     the following:--"_Be it resolved by the General Assembly_,
     That our Representatives in Congress are requested, and our
     Senators be and are hereby instructed, to secure the passage
     of a law making full compensation to all owners whose slaves
     have or may hereafter escape into any of the non-slaveholding
     States of this Union, and there be withheld from those to
     whom such service or labor may be due."

     _Fourteen persons of color_, held at Los Angelos, California,
     early in 1856, as the servants of one Robert Smith, were
     brought before Judge Benjamin Hays, on a writ of _habeas
     corpus_. Smith alleged that he formerly resided in
     Mississippi, where he owned these persons; was now about to
     remove to Texas, and designed to take these persons with him
     as his slaves. Judge Hays decided that they were all free,
     and those under twenty-one years of age were placed in the
     charge of the sheriff, as their special guardian.--_Los
     Angelos Star._ The opinion of Judge Hays (who was said to be
     a native of South Carolina,) is a very able one, and under
     the circumstances, of much interest. It may be found in the
     _Standard_, of April 5, 1856.

     _Two colored lads_, named RALLS and LOGAN, living in
     Cincinnati, were kidnapped thence by two men, named Orr and
     Simpkins, and taken to St. Louis, Missouri, where the men
     tried to sell them. The men were arrested as kidnappers.
     (March, 1856.)

     _The Decatur (Illinois) Chronicle_ states that "a man charged
     with being a fugitive slave was recently arrested at that
     place and carried off, no one knows where. The sheriff of the
     county was the willing instrument in the hands of the
     claimants; no attempt to appeal to the law was made, the
     negro being carried off as if he were a stray horse or dog."
     The _Chicago Tribune_ says: "If this is a true statement of
     the affair, that sheriff has laid himself liable to the
     charge of kidnapping, and should at once be proceeded against
     with such rigor as his offence demands." (April, 1856.)

MARGARET GARNER _and seven others_, at Cincinnati, Ohio, January,
1856. Of this recent and peculiarly painful case we give a somewhat
detailed account, mainly taken from the Cincinnati papers of the
day.

     About ten o'clock on Sunday, 27th January, 1856, a
     party of eight slaves--two men, two women, and four
     children--belonging to Archibald K. Gaines and John Marshall,
     of Richwood Station, Boone County, Kentucky, about sixteen
     miles from Covington, escaped from their owners. Three of the
     party are father, mother, and son, whose names are Simon,
     Mary, and Simon, Jr.; the others are Margaret, wife of Simon,
     Jr., and her four children. The three first are the property
     of Marshall, and the others of Gaines.

     They took a sleigh and two horses belonging to Mr. Marshall,
     and drove to the river bank, opposite Cincinnati, and crossed
     over to the city on the ice. They were missed a few hours
     after their flight, and Mr. Gaines, springing on a horse,
     followed in pursuit. On reaching the river shore, he learned
     that a resident had found the horses standing in the road. He
     then crossed over to the City, and after a few hours diligent
     inquiry, he learned that his slaves were in a house about a
     quarter of a mile below the Mill Creek Bridge, on the river
     road, occupied by a colored man named Kite.

     He proceeded to the office of United States Commissioner John
     L. Pendery, and procuring the necessary warrants, with United
     States Deputy Marshal Ellis, and a large body of assistants,
     went on Monday to the place where his fugitives were
     concealed. Arriving at the premises, word was sent to the
     fugitives to surrender. A firm and decided negative was the
     response. The officers, backed by a large crowd, then made a
     descent. Breaking open the doors, they were assailed by the
     negroes with cudgels and pistols. Several shots were fired,
     but only one took effect, so far as we could ascertain. A
     bullet struck a man named John Patterson, one of the
     Marshal's deputies; tearing off a finger of his right hand,
     and dislocating several of his teeth. No other of the
     officers were injured, the negroes being rendered powerless
     before they could reload their weapons.

     On looking around, horrible was the sight which met the
     officers' eyes. In one corner of the room was a nearly white
     child, bleeding to death. Her throat was cut from ear to ear,
     and the blood was spouting out profusely, showing that the
     deed was but recently committed. Scarcely was this fact
     noticed, when a scream issuing from an adjoining room drew
     their attention thither. A glance into the apartment revealed
     a negro woman holding in her hand a knife literally dripping
     with gore, over the heads of two little negro children, who
     were crouched to the floor, and uttering the cries whose
     agonized peals had first startled them. Quickly the knife was
     wrested from the hand of the excited woman, and a more close
     investigation instituted as to the condition, of the infants.
     They were discovered to be cut across the head and
     shoulders, but not very seriously injured, although the blood
     trickled down their backs and upon their clothes.

     The woman avowed herself the mother of the children, and said
     that she had killed one and would like to kill the three
     others, rather than see them again reduced to slavery! By
     this time the crowd about the premises had become prodigious,
     and it was with no inconsiderable difficulty that the negroes
     were secured in carriages, and brought to the United States
     District Court-rooms, on Fourth Street. The populace followed
     the vehicle closely, but evinced no active desire to effect a
     rescue. Rumors of the story soon circulated all over the
     city. Nor were they exaggerated, as is usually the case. For
     once, reality surpassed the wildest thought of fiction.

     The slaves, on reaching the marshal's office, seated
     themselves around the stove with dejected countenances, and
     preserved a moody silence, answering all questions propounded
     to them in monosyllables, or refusing to answer at all. Simon
     is apparently about fifty-five years of age, and Mary about
     fifty. The son of Mr. Marshall, who is here, in order, if
     possible, to recover the property of his father, says that
     they have always been faithful servants, and have frequently
     been on this side of the river. Simon, Jr., is a young man,
     about twenty-two years old, of a very lithe and active form,
     and rather a mild and pleasant countenance. Margaret is a
     dark mulatto, twenty-three years of age; her countenance is
     far from being vicious, and her senses, yesterday, appeared
     partially stultified from the exciting trials she had
     endured. After remaining about two hours at the marshal's
     office, Commissioner Pendery announced that the slaves would
     be removed to the custody of the United States Marshal until
     nine o'clock Tuesday morning, when the case would come up for
     examination.

     The slaves were then taken down stairs to the street-door,
     when a wild and exciting scene presented itself; the
     sidewalks and the middle of the street were thronged with
     people, and a couple of coaches were at the door in order to
     convey the captives to the station-house. The slaves were
     guarded by a strong posse of officers, and as they made their
     appearance on the street, it was evident that there was a
     strong sympathy in their favor. When they were led to the
     carriage-doors, there were loud cries of "Drive on!" "Don't
     take them!" The coachmen, either from alarm or from a
     sympathetic feeling, put the whip to their horses, and drove
     rapidly off, leaving the officers with their fugitives on the
     sidewalk. They started on foot with their charge to the
     Hammond Street station-house, where they secured their
     prisoners for the night.

     The slaves claimed that they had been on this side of the
     river frequently, by consent of their masters.

     About three o'clock application was made to Judge Burgoyne
     for a writ of _habeas corpus_, to bring the slaves before
     him. This was put in the hands of Deputy Sheriff Buckingham
     to serve, who, accompanied by several assistants, proceeded
     to Hammond Street station-house, where the slaves were
     lodged. Mr. Bennett, Deputy United States Marshal, was
     unwilling to give them up, and a long time was spent
     parleying between the marshal and the sheriff's officers. The
     sheriff being determined that the writ should be executed,
     Mr. Bennett went out to take counsel with his friends.
     Finally, through the advice of Mayor Faran, Mr. Bennett
     agreed to lodge the slaves in the jail, ready to be taken out
     at the order of Judge Burgoyne. Mr. Buckingham obtained the
     complete control of the slaves.

     On the morning of the 29th, Sheriff Brashears, being advised
     by lawyers that Judge Burgoyne had no right to issue his writ
     for the slaves, and remembering Judge McLean's decision in
     the Rosetta case, made a return on the writ of _habeas
     corpus_, that the slaves were in the custody of the United
     States Marshal, and, therefore, without his jurisdiction.
     This returned the slaves to the custody of the Marshal. By
     agreement, the parties permitted the slaves to remain in the
     county jail during that day, with the understanding that
     their examination should commence the next morning, before
     Commissioner Pendery. An inquest had been held on the body of
     the child which was killed, and a verdict was found by the
     jury charging the death of the child upon the mother, who it
     was said would be held under the laws of Ohio to answer the
     charge of murder. An examination took place on Wednesday,
     before the United States Commissioner. Time was allowed their
     counsel to obtain evidence to show that they had been brought
     into the State at former times by their masters. A meeting of
     citizens was held on Thursday evening, to express sympathy
     with the alleged fugitives.

     The _Cincinnati Commercial_ of January 30, said:--The mother
     is of an interesting appearance, a mulatto of considerable
     intelligence of manner, and with a good address. In reply to
     a gentleman who yesterday complimented her upon the looks of
     her little boy, she said, "You should have seen my little
     girl that--that--[she did not like to say, was killed]--that
     died, that was the bird."

     The _Cincinnati Gazette_, of January 30, said:--We learn that
     the mother of the dead child acknowledges that she had killed
     it, and that her determination was to have killed all the
     children, and then destroy herself, rather than return to
     slavery. She and the others complain of cruel treatment on
     the part of their master, and allege that as the cause of
     their attempted escape.

     The coroner's jury, after examining the citizens present at
     the time of the arrest, went to the jail last evening, and
     examined the grandmother of the child--one of the slaves. She
     testified that the mother, when she saw they would be
     captured, caught a butcher knife and ran to the children,
     saying she would kill them rather than to have them return to
     slavery, and cut the throat of the child, calling on the
     grandmother to help her kill them. The grandmother said she
     would not do it, and hid under a bed.

     The jury gave a verdict as follows:--That said child was
     killed by its mother, Margaret Garner, with a butcher knife,
     with which she cut its throat.

     Two of the jurors also find that the two men arrested as
     fugitives were accessories to the murder.

     "The murdered child was almost white, and was a little girl
     of rare beauty."

     The examination of witnesses was continued until Monday,
     February 4, when the commissioner listened to the arguments
     of counsel until February 7th. Messrs. Jolliffe and Gitchell
     appeared for the fugitives, and Colonel Chambers, of
     Cincinnati, and Mr. Finnell, of Covington, Kentucky, for the
     claimants of the slaves. A great number of assistants,
     (amounting very nearly to five hundred,) were employed by the
     United States Marshal, H.H. Robinson, from the first, making
     the expenses to the United States Government very large; for
     their twenty-eight days' service alone, at $2.00 per day,
     amounting to over $22,000. February 8th, the case was closed,
     so far as related to the three slaves of Mr. Marshall, but
     the decision was postponed. The examination in regard to
     MARGARET and her children was farther continued. It was
     publicly stated that Commissioner Pendery had declared that
     he "would not send the woman back into slavery while a charge
     or indictment for murder lay against her." Colonel Chambers,
     counsel for the slave-claimants, in his argument, "read
     long extracts from a pamphlet entitled, 'A Northern
     Presbyter's Second Letter to Ministers of the Gospel of all
     Denominations, on Slavery, by Nathan Lord, of Dartmouth
     College,' approving and recommending Dr. Lord's views."
     Colonel Chambers having alluded, in his remarks, to Mrs. Lucy
     Stone Blackwell, and said that she had sought to give a knife
     to Margaret Garner, the Court gave permission to Mrs.
     Blackwell to reply to Colonel C. Mrs. B. preferred not to
     speak at the bar, but addressed the crowded court-room
     directly after the adjournment. Her eloquent remarks will be
     found in the papers of the day. At the close of the hearing,
     February 14th, the commissioner adjourned his court to the
     21st, afterwards to the 26th, when, he said, he would give
     his decision.

     Meantime the case was making some progress in the State
     courts. Sheriff Brashears having made return to the Common
     Pleas Court that the fugitives were in the custody of the
     United States Marshal, Judge Carter said this could not be
     received as a true return, as they were in the County jail,
     under the sheriff's control. The sheriff then amended his
     return, so as to state that the prisoners were in his
     custody, as required in the writ, and this was received by
     the Court. The fugitives now came fully into the charge of
     the State authorities. The sheriff held them "by virtue of a
     _capias_ issued on an indictment by the grand jury for
     murder."

     The slaves declared they would go dancing to the gallows
     rather than to be sent back into slavery.

     On the 26th February, Commissioner Pendery gave his decision.
     First, he refused to discharge Margaret and three others from
     the custody of the United States Marshal and deliver them to
     the Sheriff of Hamilton County, although held to answer,
     under the laws of Ohio, to the charge of murder. He then
     proceeded to consider the claim of Marshall to three of the
     slaves, decided it to be valid, and ordered them into
     Marshall's custody. He then considered Gaines's claim to
     Margaret and her three surviving children, decided that also
     to be good and valid, and ordered them to be delivered into
     the possession of said Gaines.

     The case of the rightful custody, as between the United
     States Marshal and the Ohio Sheriff also came on, February
     26th before Judge Leavitt, of the United States District
     Court, and was argued by counsel on both sides. On the 28th,
     Judge Leavitt decided that the custody was with the United
     States Marshal. The substance of Judge L.'s argument and
     decision is found in the following extract.

     "Judge McLean says: 'Neither this nor any other Court of the
     United States, nor Judge thereof, can issue a _habeas corpus_
     to bring up a prisoner who is in custody under the sentence
     or execution of a State Court, for any other purpose than to
     be used as a witness. And it is immaterial whether the
     imprisonment be under _civil or criminal process_.' If it be
     true, as there asserted, that no Federal Court can interfere
     with the exercise of the proper jurisdiction of a State
     Court, either in a civil or criminal case, the converse of
     the proposition is equally true. And it results that a State
     Court cannot take from an officer of the United States, even
     on a criminal charge, the custody of a person in execution on
     a civil case.

     "It is said in argument that if these persons cannot be held
     by the arrest of the Sheriff under the State process, the
     rights and dignity of Ohio are invaded without the
     possibility of redress. I cannot concur in this view. The
     Constitution and laws of the United States provide for a
     reclamation of these persons, by a demand on the Executive of
     Kentucky. It is true, if now remanded to the claimant and
     taken back to Kentucky as slaves, they cannot be said to have
     fled from justice in Ohio; but it would clearly be a case
     within the spirit and intention of the Constitution and the
     Act of Congress, and I trust nothing would be hazarded by the
     prediction that upon demand properly made upon the Governor
     of Kentucky, he would order them to be surrendered to the
     authorities of Ohio to answer to its violated law. I am sure
     it is not going too far to say that if the strictness of the
     law did not require this, an appeal to comity would not be in
     vain."

     Mr. Chambers said his client, Mr. Gaines, authorized him to
     say that he would hold the woman Margaret, who had killed her
     child, subject to the requisition of the Governor of Ohio, to
     answer for any crime she might have committed in Ohio.

     Judge Leavitt's decision covered the cases of the four adult
     fugitives. Another legal process was going on, at the same
     time, before Judge Burgoyne, of the Probate Court, viz.--a
     hearing under a writ of _habeas corpus_ allowed by Judge
     Burgoyne, alleging the illegal detention, by the United
     States Marshal, of the three negro children, Samuel, Thomas,
     and Silla Garner, which took place in the Probate Court,
     before Judge B., on the afternoon of February 27.

     Mr. Jolliffe said he represented the infants at the request
     of their father and mother, who had solicited him to save the
     children, if possible.

     Messrs. Headington and Ketchum appeared for the United States
     Marshal.

     Judge Burgoyne intimated that, in view of the serious and
     important questions involved, he should require some time to
     render a decision. He intimated, however, that a majority of
     the Judges of the Supreme Court having passed on the
     constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Law was no reason why
     he should not take up the Constitution and read it for
     himself, being sworn to support the Constitution of the
     United States and the Constitution of the State of Ohio.

     Mr. Ketchum suggested that his Honor was as much bound in
     conscience to regard the decision of the majority of the
     Judges of the United States Courts as the express provisions
     of the Constitution itself.

     Judge Burgoyne said, that however the decisions of the Judges
     of the United States Courts might aid him in coming to a
     conclusion, where the obligations of his conscience were
     involved, he could not screen himself behind a decision made
     by somebody else.

     Judge Burgoyne subsequently decided that, in as far as the
     Fugitive Slave Law was intended to suspend the writ of
     _habeas corpus_--and he believed that it was so intended--it
     clearly transcended the limits prescribed by the
     Constitution, and is "utterly void." Judge B. required the
     United States Marshal to answer to the writ on the following
     Friday; and on his neglect to do so, fined and imprisoned
     him. Judge Leavitt, of the United States Court, soon released
     the Marshal from prison.

     The _Cincinnati Columbian_, of February 29, gave the
     following account:--The last act of the drama of the
     fugitives was yesterday performed by the rendition of the
     seven persons whose advent into the city, under the bloody
     auspices of murder, caused such a sensation in the community.
     After the decision of Judge Leavitt, Sheriff Brashears
     surrendered the four fugitives in his custody, under a
     _capias_ from an Ohio court, to United States Marshal
     Robinson. An omnibus was brought to the jail, and the
     fugitives were led into it--a crowd of spectators looking on.

     Margaret was in custody of Deputy-Marshal Brown. She appeared
     greatly depressed and dispirited. The little infant, Silla,
     was carried by Pfc. Russell, the door-keeper of the United
     States Court, and was crying violently. Pollock, the reporter
     of the proceedings in the United States Court, conducted
     another of the fugitives, and all were safely lodged in the
     omnibus, which drove down to the Covington ferry-boat; but,
     although a large crowd followed it, no hootings or other
     signs of excitement or disapprobation were shown.

     On arriving at the Kentucky shore, a large crowd was in
     attendance, which expressed its pleasure at the termination
     of the long proceedings in this city by triumphant shouts.
     The fugitives were escorted to the jail, where they were
     safely incarcerated, and the crowd moved off to the Magnolia
     Hotel, where several toasts were given and drank. The crowd
     outside were addressed from the balcony by H.H. Robinson,
     Esq., United States Marshal for the Southern District of
     Ohio, who declared that he had done his duty and no more, and
     that it was a pleasure to him to perform an act that added
     another link to the glorious chain that bound the Union.
     [What a _Union_! For what "glorious" purposes!]

     Mr. Finnell, attorney for the claimants, said he never loved
     the Union so dearly as now. It was proved to be a substantial
     reality.

     Judge Flinn also addressed to the crowd one of his peculiar
     orations; and was followed by Mr. Gaines, owner of Margaret
     and the children. After hearty cheering the crowd dispersed.

     Further to signalize their triumph, the slaveholders set on
     the Covington mob to attack Mr. Babb, reporter for one of the
     Cincinnati papers, on the charge of being an abolitionist,
     and that gentleman was knocked down, kicked, trampled on,
     and would undoubtedly have been murdered, but for the
     interference of some of the United States Deputy Marshals.

     A legal irregularity on the part of the Sheriff was brought
     to the notice of Judge Carter on the morning of February 29.
     It was passed over lightly.

     On the Sunday after the delivery of the slaves, they were
     visited in the Covington jail by Rev. P.C. Bassett, whose
     account of his interview, especially with Margaret, was
     published in the _American Baptist_, and may also be found in
     the _National Antislavery Standard_ of March 15, 1850.
     Margaret confessed that she had killed the child. "I
     inquired," says Mr. Bassett, "if she were not excited almost
     to madness when she committed the act! 'No,' she replied, 'I
     was as cool as I now am; and would much rather kill them at
     once, and thus end their sufferings, than have them taken
     back to slavery and be murdered by piece-meal.' She then told
     the story of her wrongs. She spoke of her days of suffering,
     of her nights of unmitigated toil, while the bitter tears
     coursed their way down her cheeks."

     Governor Chase, of Ohio, made a requisition upon Governor
     Morehead, of Kentucky, for the surrender of Margaret Garner,
     charged with murder. The requisition was taken by Joseph
     Cooper, Esq. to Gov. Morehead, at Frankfort, on the _6th of
     March_--an unpardonable delay in the circumstances. Gov.
     Morehead issued an order for the surrender of Margaret. On
     taking it to Louisville, Mr. Cooper found that Margaret, with
     her infant child, and the rest of Mr. Gaines's slaves had
     been sent down the river in the steamboat Henry Lewis, to be
     sold in Arkansas. Thus it was that Gaines kept his pledged
     word that Margaret should be surrendered upon the requisition
     of the Governor of Ohio! On the passage down the Ohio, the
     steamboat, in which the slaves were embarked, came in
     collision with another boat, and so violently that Margaret
     and her child, with many others, were thrown into the water.
     About twenty-five persons perished. A colored man seized
     Margaret and drew her back to the boat, but her babe was
     drowned! "The mother," says a correspondent of the
     _Louisville Courier_, "exhibited no other feeling than joy at
     the loss of her child." So closed another act of this
     terrible tragedy. The slaves were transferred to another
     boat, and taken to their destination. (_See_ Mr. Cooper's
     letter to Gov. Chase, dated Columbus, March 11, 1856.) Almost
     immediately on the above tragic news, followed the tidings
     that Gaines had determined to bring Margaret back to
     Covington, Kentucky, and hold her subject to the requisition
     of the Governor of Ohio. Evidently he could not stand up
     under the infamy of his conduct. Margaret was brought back,
     and placed in Covington jail, to await a requisition. On
     Wednesday, Mr. Cox, the prosecuting-attorney, received the
     necessary papers from Gov. Chase, and the next day
     (Thursday), two of the Sheriffs deputies went over to
     Covington for Margaret, but did not find her, as she had been
     taken away from the jail the night before. The jailor said he
     had given her up on Wednesday night, to a man who came there
     with a written order from her master, Gaines, but could not
     tell where she had been taken. The officers came back and
     made a return 'not found.'

     The _Cincinnati Gazette_ said,--"On Friday our sheriff
     received information which induced him to believe that she
     had been sent on the railroad to Lexington, thence via
     Frankfort to Louisville, there to be shipped off to the New
     Orleans slave market.

     He immediately telegraphed to the sheriff at Louisville (who
     holds the original warrant from Gov. Morehead, granted on the
     requisition of Gov. Chase,) to arrest her there, and had a
     deputy in readiness to go down for her. But he has received
     no reply to his dispatch. As she was taken out on Wednesday
     night, there is reason to apprehend that she has already
     passed Louisville, and is now on her way to New Orleans.

     Why Mr. Gaines brought Margaret back at all, we cannot
     comprehend. If it was to vindicate his character, he was most
     unfortunate in the means he selected, for his duplicity has
     now placed this in a worse light than ever before, and kept
     before the public the miserable spectacle of his dishonor.

     We have learned now, by experience, what is that boasted
     comity of Kentucky on which Judge Leavitt so earnestly
     advised Ohio to rely."

     The assertion of the _Louisville Journal_, that Margaret was
     kept in Covington jail "ten days," and that the Ohio
     authorities had been notified of the same, is pronounced to
     be untrue in both particulars by the _Cincinnati Gazette_,
     which paper also declares that prompt action was taken by the
     governor of Ohio, and the attorney and sheriff of Hamilton
     County, as soon as the fact was known.

     Here we must leave MARGARET, a noble woman indeed, whose
     heroic spirit and daring have won the willing, and extorted
     the unwilling, admiration of hundreds of thousands. Alas for
     her! after so terrible a struggle, so bloody a sacrifice, so
     near to deliverance once, twice, and even a third time, to
     be, by the villainy and lying or her "respectable" white
     owner again engulphed in the abyss of Slavery! What her fate
     is to be, it is not hard to conjecture. But friendless,
     heart-stricken, robbed of her children, outraged as she has
     been, not wholly without friends,

         "Yea, three firm friends, more sure than day and night,
          Herself, her Maker, and the angel Death."

       *       *       *       *       *

Extract from a sermon recently delivered in Cleveland, Ohio, by Rev.
H. BUSHNELL, from the following text: "And it was so, that all that
saw it, said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that
the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this
day: CONSIDER OF IT, TAKE ADVICE, AND SPEAK YOUR MINDS."--JUDGES
XIX: 30.

     A few weeks ago, just at dawn of day, might be seen a company
     of strangers crossing the winter bridge over the Ohio River,
     from the State of Kentucky, into the great city of our own
     State, whose hundred church-spires point to heaven, telling
     the travellers that in this place the God of Abraham was
     worshipped, and that here Jesus the Messiah was known, and
     his religion of love taught and believed. And yet, no one
     asked them in or offered them any hospitality, or sympathy,
     or assistance. After wandering from street to street, a poor
     laboring man gave them the shelter of his humble cabin, for
     they were strangers and in distress. Soon it was known abroad
     that this poor man had offered them the hospitalities of his
     home, and a rude and ferocious rabble soon gathered around
     his dwelling, demanding his guests. With loud clamor and
     horrid threatening they broke down his doors, and rushed upon
     the strangers. They were an old man and his wife, their
     daughter and her husband with four children; and they were of
     the tribe of slaves fleeing from a bondage which was worse
     than death. There was now no escape--the tribes of Israel had
     banded against them. On the side of the oppressor there is
     power. And the young wife and mother, into whose very soul
     the iron had entered, hearing the cry of the master: "Now
     we'll have you all!" turning from the side of her husband and
     father, with whom she had stood to repel the foe, seized a
     knife, and with a single blow nearly severed the head from
     the body of her darling daughter, and throwing its bloody
     corpse at his feet, exclaimed, "Yes, you _shall_ have us all!
     take that!" and with another blow inflicted a ghastly wound
     upon the head of her beautiful son, repeating, "Yes, you
     _shall_ have us all--take that!" meanwhile calling upon her
     old mother to help her in the quick work of emancipation--for
     there were two more. But the pious old grandmother could not
     do it, and it was now too late--the rescuers had subdued and
     bound them. They were on their way back to the house of their
     bondage--a life more bitter than death! On their way through
     that city of churches whose hundred spires told of Jesus and
     the good Father above; on their way amid the throng of
     Christian men, whose noble sires had said and sung, "Give me
     _liberty_, or give me _death_."

     But they all tarried in the great Queen City of the West--in
     chains, and in a felon's cell. There our preacher visited
     them again and again. There he saw the old grandfather and
     his aged companion, whose weary pilgrimage of unrequited toil
     and tears was nearly at its end. And there stood the young
     father and the heroic wife "Margaret." Said the preacher,
     "Margaret, why did you kill your child?" "It was my own," she
     said, "given me of God, to do the best a mother could in its
     behalf. _I have done the best I could!_ I would have done
     more and better for the rest! I knew it was better for them
     to go home to God than back to slavery." "But why did you not
     trust in God--why not wait and hope?" "I did wait, and then
     we dared to do, and fled in fear, but in hope; hope fled--God
     did not appear to save--_I did the best I could!"_

     And who was this woman? A noble, womanly, amiable,
     _affectionate mother_. "But was she not deranged?" Not at
     all--calm, intelligent, but resolute and determined. "But was
     she not fiendish, or beside herself with passion?" No, she
     was most tender and affectionate, and all her passion was
     that of a _mother's fondest love_. I reasoned with her, said
     the preacher; tried to awaken a sense of guilt, and lead her
     to repentance and to Christ. But there was no remorse, no
     desire of pardon, no reception of Christ or his religion. To
     her it was a religion of _slavery_, more cruel than death.
     And where had she lived? where thus taught? Not down among
     the rice swamps of Georgia, or on the banks of Red River. No,
     but within sixteen miles of the Queen City of the West! In a
     nominally Christian family--whose master was most liberal in
     support of the Gospel, and whose mistress was a communicant
     at the Lord's table, and a professed follower of Christ!
     Here, in this family, where slavery is found in its mildest
     form, she had been kept in ignorance of God's will and word,
     and learned to know that the mildest form of American
     slavery, at this day of Christian civilization and Democratic
     liberty, was worse than death itself! She had learned by an
     experience of many years, that it was so bad she had rather
     take the life of her own dearest child, without the hope of
     Heaven for herself, than that _it_ should experience its
     unutterable agonies, which were to be found even in a
     Christian family! But here are her two little boys, of eight
     and ten years of age. Taking the eldest boy by the hand, the
     preacher said to him, kindly and gently, "Come here, my boy;
     what is your name?" "Tom, sir." "Yes, _Thomas_." "No sir,
     _Tom_." "Well, Tom, how old are you?" "Three _months_." "And
     how old is your little brother?" "Six _months_, sir!" "And
     have you no other name but Tom?" "No." "What is your father's
     name?" "Haven't got any!" "Who made you, Tom?" "Nobody!" "Did
     you ever hear of God or Jesus Christ?" "No, sir." And this
     was slavery in its best estate. By and by the aged couple,
     and the young man and his wife, the remaining children, with
     the master, and the dead body of the little one, were
     escorted through the streets of the Queen City of the West by
     a _national guard of armed men_, back to the great and
     chivalrous State of old Kentucky and away to the shambles of
     the South--back to a life-long servitude of hopeless despair.
     It was a long, sad, silent procession down to the banks of
     the Ohio; and as it passed, the death-knell of freedom tolled
     heavily. The sovereignty of Ohio trailed in the dust beneath
     the oppressor's foot, and the great confederacy of the tribes
     of modern Israel attended the funeral obsequies, and made
     ample provision for the necessary expenses! "And it was so,
     that all that saw it, said, _There was no such deed done, nor
     seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of
     the land of Egypt unto this day_; CONSIDER OF IT, TAKE
     ADVICE, AND SPEAK YOUR MINDS!"

       *       *       *       *       *

With the sad case of MARGARET GARNER we close, for the present, the
record of the Fugitive Slave Law, as its history has been daily
writing itself in our country's annals. Enactment of hell! which has
marked every step of its progress over the land by suffering and by
crimes,--crimes of the bloodiest dye, groanings which cannot fully
be uttered; which is tracked by the dripping blood of its victims,
by their terrors and by their despair; against which, and against
that Wicked Nation which enacted it, and which suffers it still to
stand as their LAW, the cries of the down-trodden poor go up
continually into the ears of God,--cries of bitterest anguish,
mingled with fiercest execrations--thousands of Rachels weeping for
their children, and will not be comforted, because they _are not_.

Reader, is your patriotism of the kind which believes, with the
supporters of old monarchies, that the Sovereign Power can do no
wrong? Consider the long record which has been laid before you, and
say if your country has not enacted a most wicked, cruel, and
shameful law, which merits only the condemnation and abhorrence of
every heart. Consider that this law was aimed at the life, liberty,
and happiness of the poor and least-privileged portion of our
people--a class whom the laws should befriend, protect, and raise
up. What is the true character of a law, whose working, whose fruits
are such as this meagre outline of its history shows? Is it fit that
such deeds and such a law should have your sanction and support?
Will you remain in a moment's doubt whether to be a friend or a foe
to such a law? Will you countenance or support the man, in the
church or in the state, who is not its open and out-spoken opponent?
Will you not, rather, yourself trample it under foot, as alike the
disgrace of your country, the enemy of humanity, and the enemy of
God? And nobly join, with heart and hand, every honest man who seeks
to load with the opprobrium they deserve, the law itself and
everything that justifies and upholds it?


In this tract no mention is made of that great company of slaves
who, flying from their intolerable wrongs and burdens, are overtaken
before reaching the Free States--(alas, that we should mock
ourselves with this empty name of _free_!)--and carried back into a
more remote and hopeless slavery; nor of the thousands who, having
fled in former years, and established themselves in industry and
comfort in the Northern States, were compelled again to become
fugitives, leaving their little all behind them, into a still more
Northern land where, under British law, they find at last a
resting-place and protection; nor to any great extent of the
numerous cases of white citizens, prosecuted, fined, harassed in
every way, for the _crime_ of giving shelter and succor to the
hunted wanderers. To have included these--all emphatically _victims_
of the Fugitive Slave Law--would swell our tract into a volume. What
a testimony against our land and our people is given by their
accumulated weight! EVERY LIVING MAN AND WOMAN is GUILTY OF THIS
GREAT SIN, WHO EITHER BY APOLOGY, OR BY SILENCE, LENDS IT THE LEAST
SUPPORT.

--> In a record like the foregoing, dealing so largely with facts
and dates, perfect accuracy is not to be expected, although much
pains have been taken to make it strictly correct. Any information,
on good authority, which will help to make the record more exact,
or more complete, will be very gratefully received. It should be
addressed to SAMUEL MAY, JR., No. 21 Cornhill, Boston, Mass.

       *       *       *       *       *

Published at the office of the AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY,
No. 138 Nassau Street, New York. Also to be had at the Anti-Slavery
Offices, No. 21 Cornhill, Boston, and No. 31 North Fifth Street,
Philadelphia; of JOEL McMILLAN, Salem, Columbiana Co., Ohio, and
of JACOB WALTON, Jr., Adrian, Michigan.


[Transcriber's note: The following remain as in the original:
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Los Angelos; Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter.]