Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1854-06-22
From the Wilmington (0hio) Herald Of Freedom.
KIDNAPPING IN OHlO--HORRIBLE Null
DER OF A FREE COLoRED Man.

On Thursday, May 25th, about noon, col
Xcnia pike near Cedaryille; he was of middle
alone, and was suspected of being q fugitive
slave. Poor man, he little thought how near
the end Of the journey of life he had arrived.
Perhaps he lcas fugitive. the labor of whose
life had been anothcrs, and who was struggling
to realize the dream of his life, the enjoyment
of liberty. But, ALIAS for his dream, the eye Of
the man-thef was upon him ALIAS for our
Christian country that legalizes the theft
lie was oycrtaken by man in buggy, who
profcssed to be friend of the colored man, and
who invited him to ride, promising to assist him
in procuring bis liberty; the invitation was
accepted, and the man pursued his journey,
asking tho assistance Of such as he met to buy
the freedom Of the alleged slave. On some pre-
tencc he took the jamestown road, and drove to
the house Of Chapman, three miles south of
Selma, in Green county. After he had been
there short time, it was observed by the neigh
bors that Chapman and his son were assisting
in beating and tying the negro. They were
seen to place him in the buggy, and the younger
Chapman and the stranger get in with him and
drive off with speed.
These facts came to the cars Of Daniel p.
Wilson and Joseph Laird, who disguised them
selves as slave hunters, and appeared at Clap
nan in the night. They succeeded in getting
from the younger Chapman facts enough to
make out pretty strong case Of kidnapping.
On Friday morning they had them arrested, and
and j. p. Little bound them over to court to
answer to charge Of Kidnapping
They then set upon young Chapman to tell
where the man was gone with the negro; per-
suading him that that would be the best way
for him to escape. 4, After several vain attempts
to deceive them, he set out, US he said, to show
them where they had left the negro tied. They
followed him, and found the dead body in u
thick wood, one mile south Of Clifton. The
ncigborhood WAS soon astir, and while prepa-
rations were made for i'm inquest Samuel Howell
who had Interested himself in the affair FROM
the beginning, went to Ncnia in pursuit of the
stranger, whose name was asccrtained to be
McCord He found that he had seemed to en-
joyed himself as usual on Friday, and had left
In the drcning for Spring Valley. He offered
fifty dollars for his arrest, and he was with some
difficulty taken before evening on Saturday, and
was lodged in Xenia jill. Meanwhile, an in
quest was held over the body and the testimony
Of WIN. Chapman elected the following facts :
Son Thursday, May 25th, man whose
name have since learned is VIM. McCord
drove up to my fathers house, in company with
IL coloccd man, and asked my father ii there
were any a5olitionists or QaaEtls on tic road.
Reply, no! Then said, he had fugitive whom
he would like to assist in purchasing his free
dom; and asked my father if he would help
him. Reply, no he would rather help him
back into slavery lie then ordered his horse
fed, and, as was taking him to the stable,
McCord, negro and father went into the kitchen.
Soon after, my sister ran out of the house cry
ing that they were killing man in the house
| went to the house, loHnd negro and McCord
in the act of falling on the noor--negro'
head was bleeding soon after McCord gave
me a hitching- strap and asked me to tie him
and while was making slip moose he struck
the negro over tho head with colt, having hold
Of his throat with the other hand. Ills hands
were then tied behind him, and he put into
another ROOM then went to neighbours tC
procure pistol, having been pursuaded to ac
company McCord to Cincinnati.
"ooon after the negro got loose and ran dowr
the road AlcCord ran after him crying stor
him - catch the id horse thief &c., my
father and | followed him; negro picked "
a stone, the man club, and struck him on tho
head, 50 that he did not throw the stone. liz
was then tied, and assisted by my father ant
the man to walk to tho buggy. McCord ordcrec
me to assist in tying, and then 60 with him tt
Cincinnati, saying he would give me half the
reward, (S2O0,) if would Myself and Me
Cord then got into the buggy with the negro
and drove off under whip. We had not gonl
over two or three miles before the negro died
and after taking him two or three miles further
put him out and left him as now discovered. ;
The coroner jury gave in substance the fol
lowing verdict Deceased came to his death
by blows from colt and club in the hands Of
one VIM McCord, assisted hy the two Chap
mans. Chapman,s testimony was given in such
Il manner as to show that he was classifying, ant
part Of the facts were drawn from him by in
volving him in contradictions. lie said McCort
made him a proposition to join and follow kid.
mapping for business, stating that he knew
where he could get four victims Immediately.