Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-09-29

la an editorial in your paper OF the 18th INST,
l. contained a paragraph as follows, Wa:
"NOw we take occasion to say that, IN our iudg-
ment, the manner of Intervention of Mr.. William
son was ill.adviscd, especially as, mcasurabiy AT
least, it was attended by violence. We are not
lawyers enough to determine whether a habcas
corpus could have been sued out Of for the adiudi-
cation of the rights Of these slaves; but we pre-
sumo If Mr.. Wheeler could get a habeas corpus to
recover them, Mr.. Williamson could have gOt one
10 rcScuc them in the first instance. If lac could,
thcn he was wrong in what he did. by pursuing
another course u great scandal aud a great danger
might have been avertcd; but we are constrained
10 admit that the active partisans Of the Anti-Sla-
very cause arc not much addicted TO discreet or
circumspec words or acts. They have II singular
knack of putting themselves, their friends, and
their cause in the wrong" We.
Itappears to me that this paragraph of your cd
itOril imports ccnsurc in a wrong direction, and
Is calculated to niislcad instead of enlightcn the
public mind in regard to the facts connected with
the late alleged 'abduction" of thcWhceler slaves
and also in regard to the general mode of proceed
ing by the Acting Committee and other officers OF
the "Pennsylyania Abolition Society common ly
so called, from its first existence lin 1852 to the
present time; ''for the relief OF free negroes un-
lawfully held in boudago"-(a purpose FOR which
the Socisty, in 1889, was Incorporated AID ncv-
or departed from them except, rs in this case, un-
der the pressure of absolute necessity, or what at
the time they believe to bo such. There is no per-
son. | approhond, at all familiar with the opera
,ions Of that Society in such cases as the late one,
but knows that its Acting Committee and agents.
whenever circumstances were such as rendered it
practicable to do SO, have uniformly had recourse
to tho writ Of habcas corpus, and for reasons too
obvious to require to be stated.
Then what we're the real facts which rendered
the resort to a writ Of habeas corpus in the case
Of Whcclcr's slaves an imposSibility? Sufficient
are within nv knoyledre, ana | will state them as
briefly as ! can,
Plssmore Williamson is NV son. and is associa-
ted With me in business at the S. W. corner of Sew
cnth and Atheists. That he is n member of the
S,cicty aforesaid. and Secretary of its Acting
Committee. has already been repeatedly stated
GA the 18th IF the Seventh month july last, at
fall a o'clock p. NJ, | was standing by his side at
his desk, when William Still, clcrk at the Office Of
the Ant-Slavcry Society, entered our Office, and
laid on Passmore's desk in front Of me, an open
aad almost iIlcgibly written note, which | picked
up, and having with difficulty read, handed it to
Pi,smore vino also read it. The substance of the
information it contained was, that there were at
Bloodsond's Hotel, on Walnut st. wharf, three
slaves, with their master, who had brought them
there, and was intending to take them thence to
Now York by the . o'clock line; that said slaves
desired their freedom, and n request that some one
wonll Immediately come down and attend to the
case. Sail proposed that they should resort to
ihe writ OF habeas corpus, as sual in such cases,
20 WHICH ldSSilOItl e0lltu, IDlJ ] WIS llnIOSSl-
Mic to do 50" and assigned two reasons: lst, THAT
there was then no Judge in the city, 50 far as he
knew, who had authority to grant the writ and
81, There was not sufficient time to procure the
writ, and to have it served, even e IL Judge were
nj hand to grant it, lie, P~assmOre, being then
particularly engaged with business preparatory to
leaving the city that evening, by the IL O'Clock
train of cars for Harrisburg, to attend an election
OF officers of a telegraph company, next day ut
that place, stated it was impracticable then to so
himself, and requested Still to proceed Immediate
" to Bloodrood's, and attend MS we'll as he could to
the slaves and their rights; and if he could do no
more, to endeayor to see them, SO as to be able to
describe them, and then to send a Geographic dis
patch to New York, so that the case could be met
in a proper way, upon .heir arrival there. Still
then started, as it WERE, to attend to the instruc-
tons given him, but when passing out OF our
door, turned upon his heel and inquired whether
thero was anything to prevent the slaves leaving
their master If they saw proper to do so? To
which inquiry Passmore replied, they have a per-
feet right to so where they please, and they can do
80 unless forcibly restrained by their MASTER
SILL then left our Office to proceed to Bloodgoods;
Passmore resumed his business at his desk IN
front, and passed back to my desk, where l usu-
ally sit.
Within, | think, three minutes aIterward, Pass
more again threw down his pen, left his desk, put
on his coat and hat, and, without a word spoken
by either of us to the other, he hastily left the
-lhCt 4 ull NJ upubl HUNGNCI, ~ " NhSicj VI
the purpose for which he went. After what APP
peared TO me then a very short absence / think
not exceeding, though it may have been less than
half AN hour) he returned to our Office, and to my
self and John Farnum, who happened to be with
me, he related the circumstances as to himself and
others connected with the release of Jane johnson
and her two children from the custody and con
troll of their previous master, on board the steam
boat Washington, their passing thence over the
wharf and down Delaware-ay. to Dock ST., and
from that point seeing them enter a crrTiagc at
Dock and Grant SITS, and driven of. The relation
then made by him was, in substance, and | think
almost in terms, the same as was made by him in
the District Court of the United States, on the 20h
OF same month 1.-TWO days later, upon his alirma-
ton, and by leave of the Court.
After Passmore's return to our Office, as above
stated, he was constantly and uninterroptedly en-
gagged in preparing business at his desk until lOI
O'Clock, with the single exception of, in the mean
time, going to his own home for his evening meal
and perhaps changing his clothes preparatory to
1on Vinr tha nitv cr IJ,rr;.I,.. nn;a. -. r