The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-04-19
THE SLAVE CODE IN WASHINGTON.

1t is shameful that the Capital City of Re-
public, which, among its twenty.seven millions
of People, contains only about three hundred
thousand shareholders, should yet be cursed
with a mean and detestable Slave Code We
who live in the District cannot abolish or alter
it. Congress, so long ago as 1902, adopted it
| from Maryland, Just as it had come down from
a rude and ignorant band of Adventures, and
Congress has kept it alive ever since. For hall
century, although majority Of its members
have come from the free States, no serious
movement has been made to alter barbarous
code, of two centuries standing.
AS one illustration of its brutality, we pub
lish the following, account of a recent occur.
renee, taken from the Ecening Star of this city.
"The Washington Star says that the great
excitement has been caused in the city of mag.
knifcentsdistances, by the discovery of the fact
k(lNf4 n3mber of colored people, most of them
III of good character had been detect
t private meeting, the principal OBJ
hitch appears to have been to raise
xn9u4 70 purchase the freedom of young
W0n8n whom her owner was willing to SELL
The Star gives the following account of this
terrible affair
"The entire party were, without ceremony,
escorted to the watch-house. They presented the
spectacle, not of a company of loafers, but ap-
parently genteel colored men.
The law was read to them which prohibits
free or slave blacks and mulattoes from assem-
bling unlawfully or meeting secret; the smallest
fine for which offence is five dollars. The mu-
nicipal statute likewise subjects police officers
tn in off doll IN &c I. 4
ing to enter and break up such associations.
Being asked whether they had anything to
say, one of the blacks requested the examina-
ton Of certain books which he placed on the
desk, which consisted of the Holy Bible, SEN
eca's Morals, and Life in Earnest. Among the
private papers was one in the form of subscrip-
ton for the purchase of a slave woman named
Eliza Howard, the value set on her by her own
er being $3.50.
To the hberating fund, Hon. Gerrit Smith
paid $50, and the Hon. w. H. Seward So; Hon.
j. r. Giddings was down for 81, but the cash
was not paid. Several of our respectable citi-
zens had likewise contributed. There were
scraps of poetry i'll manuscript, including 'The
Lone Indians Dream, and the printed consti.
tuition of a society called THE Daughters of
jerusalem similar to the one the 'coored
folks have in Richmond, Va, the object of
which, as stated in the preamble is to relieve
the sick and bury the dead The contents of
paper box was also examined by the captain.
consisting of sets of handsome regalia for the
officers of the society,"
=" AT the suggestion of an officer, the negroes,
twenty-fou of them in number, were severaly
searched, each one in turn going down stairs
for that purpose; but nothing tending to impli
cate them in crime was found on their persons
According to their own statement, they had
met for benevolent purposes.
Some OF them were released last night. and
the other cases were disposed of this morning
The following are the names of the persons ar
rested:
Slaves-Walter Clements, Charles Mason.
Richard Henry Sanders, and Joseph Jones.
"Free-James Williams, Joseph johnson.
John 4. Bennett, Chester Taylor, Charles Brown,
James Curtis, Henry Dunlap, William Simonds,
George W. Gaines, Lewis Norton, Daniel Viii
Hams, Peter Hempsley, Aaron Jones, Reuben
Boss, Edmund Duckett, George Sands, James
Clagett George Lee, Grafton johnson, and
Aquila Barton.
Bennett, Taylor, Lee and Barton, were sent
to the work-house, Joseph Jones received six
lashes, and the others were released on the pay
ment of the fine and costs-S5.5S each"
There was no more secrecy in this meeting,
than in the private meetings of any of the nu-
merous benevolent societies of this city. The
object of the much-abused people, as was shown,
and nobody doubted, was to raise money to buy
the freedom of poor slave woman; and the
means were entirely legitimate. And yet, for
thus assembling, four were sent to the work.
house, one whipped, twenty fined 1888 each,
or in the aggregate SLIGO, more than three
times the amount named as contributed to the
redemption of the poor woman.
Now, if there be meaner transaction than
this on record, we should like it pointed out.
How long shall a code, which authorizes and
enjoins such acts, be suffered to disgrace the
city and the nation. There is not an american
citizen who is not implicated in the guilt of its
maintenance. We hope the subject will be
brought to the notice of the next Congress.