Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1855-08-24


Subjoinsd is a correct transcript Of the
bill which is without parallel in the whole
code of infamous Black Laws:
: 8 3 8 8 3 3 3
AN ACT TO PUNISH oFFENsEs AGAINST SLAVE
PROPERTY.
Sec. l. Every person. bond or free, con-
victed Of raising a rebellion of slaves, free
negroes or mulattoes-sball suffer DEATH
Sec. 2. Every free person who shall aid
in any rebellion of slaves &c, or do any overt
act in furtherance thereof-shall suffer
DEATH.
Sec. 3. If any free person shall by speak
ing, writing, or printing, advise, induce,
&c, any slave to rebel, cOnspire against or
murder any citizen of Kansas, or shall i'm
port or aid in importing such documents
he shall suffer DEATH.
Sec. 4. If any person shall entice, decoy,
or carry out of Kansas any slave belonging
to another, with intent 10 deprive the own
er thereof of the services of such slave, or
procure the freedom Of such slave he shall
suffer DEATH or be imprisoned at hard la
Dor for not less than ten gears
Sec 5. If any person shall assist in enti'
cling &c, las abovs)-shall suffer DEATH,
or be imprisoned at hard labor for not less
than ten years.
Sec. 6. If any person shall entice, or car
~ away out Of any State or territory of the
| y. S. any slave and shall bring
such slave into this territory, etc, + 4
he shall suffer DEATH, or be imprisoned at
hard labor for not less than ten gears.
Sec. Z. If any person shall entice any
slave to escape from the service of his mas
II ter or owner or shall aid any
slave in escaping be shall be
imprisoned at hard labor for not less than
fiTe years
Sec. 8. IF any person in this territory
shall aid or harbor any escaped slave from
another State such person shall
be punished in ike manner as if such slave
had escaped from his master in this terri
tory.
Sec o. If any perscn shall resist any Of
fee while attempting to arrest any slave
that may have escaped or shall
rescue such slave, or aid such slave to es-
cape from the oficer-the person so offend
ing shall be imprisoned at hard labor for
not less than ten years.
Sec. 10. If any marshal, sheriff or con-
stable, or the deputy Of any such officer,
shall when required refuse to aid or assist
in the arrest or capture of any slave that
may have escaped, such officers shall be
fined not less than one or more than five
hundred dollars.
Sec. IL. If any person shall print, write
introduce into. publish or circulate, or cause
to be brought into, printed, written, publish
ed or circulated, or shall knowingly aid oI
assist in bringing into, printing, publishing
or circulating within this territory, any book
paper, &c, containing any statements, doc
trines, &c, calculated 10 produce adlsatfec
ton among the slaves of the territory-ht
shall be punished by Imprisonment at hare
labor for not less than five years.
Sec. IL. If any free person shall by
speaking or by writing, assert or maintain
that persons have not the right to hoLc
slaves in the territory, or shall Introduce
into Kansas, print, publish. write, circulate
or cause to be introduced into the territory
written, printed, published or circulated in
this territory, any book, paper, magazine
pamphlet or circular containing any denia
of the right of persons to hold slaves in shi'
territory. such person shall be deemed
guilty Of felony, and punished by imprison
ment at hard labor for term Of not les
than two years.
Sec. l3. No person who is Conscientious
ly oppose to holding slaves = =
shall sit as a juror, on the trial Of any pros
ecution for any violation of any Of the sec
tions of this act.
Act to be in force after Sept Is. 1855.
The Democrat "inYites the attention o
Missourians, and in fact the whole peole o
the United States, to its bloody provisions
whereby the life of white man is made
less consequence and value than the servi
ces of negro slave" and comments thu
pointedly on the 18th section:
s'This is neither more nor less than max
ing a difference of opinion, upon constitu
tional question penitentiary offence. |
establishes the prison and the pillory as tn
arbiter of constitutional law, in preference
to the judiciary of the land, and makes tn
human mind square its convictions to th
ideas of few accidentally elected legisla
tors. The "Procrustian bed" has been
: myth heretofore; it promises soon to be
shamble and a slaughter-house in reality
: Men are no longer to be permitted in tn
new territory to express abstract opinion
J upon moral questions without suffering th
igsominious penalties of State penitentiI
a ~, and this is what is called opening th
' territories to the people Of the whole Uniol
a and admitting all persons to the enjoymeI
of its fair lands. Squatter sovereignty vi
!, much lauded by Gen. Cass and Mr.. Doul
}. las, in the outset, and yet under this pba'
. ofi;, both Mr.. Douglas and Cass would |
r sent to the State prison, if they dared
It utter in Kansas territory what they ha7
: repeatedly said in glowing language IN Il
II Senate of the limited States,