The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1858-08-31
white slave Declared Free.
Of the Pittsburgh Despatch.l

White slave Declared Free.
tcorrespondence Of the Pittsburgh Despatchl
Mason County, (Ky.,) Aug, 1858.
oh August II and l2, one OF the most ex-
citing cases ever occurring in this section O.
county, and one, too, in which the feelings o
al were deeply enlisted, came before the Circuit
Court. The circumstances Of the case, briefly
stated, are these About q year and hall
| since, woman was arrested by order of man
named D0dson (acting as agent for one Mrs
uoooardl and brought to our town and lodged
| IN negro jail for safe keeping until further
disposition could be made of her person. the
intention of the person or persons ordering he,
South.
Seeing what appeared to every one white
woman held in bondage as slaye, and con-
nned in negro Jail, enlisted the deepest feel
ing IN her behalf She was Immediately taken
from her captivity, bond was drawn and sign.
cd by some Of our most worthy citizens for her
security, and she returned to her home and her
friends. The truth of the matter vas this:-
She had been held as slave for more than
twenty years, and to make it appear more fully
that she was slave, her SO called owner had
recognized her marriage with q negro man,
which she, ignorant that she was not q slave.
had consented to. Thus was a dark vail thrown
over the scene, to blind more fully those who
much sooner would have looked into and ferret.
ed out this unprecedented case. When her al.
legged owners found out that she intended suing
fo- her freedom, upon the ground that she
was not negro but a white woman, with not
. particle of negro blood in her veins, thev had
her arrested and lodged in Jail, SO as to sell
her to 60 South. thus getting her on. of the
way, and thereby relieving themselves of fur
ther trouble
But thanks be to God, they were checked in
their double died villainy. "A suit for her free.
dom was instantly instituted, and on Tuesday
and Wednesday the trial came off in our Circuit
Court, the sequel of which is as follows -
The very ablcst counsel of which our bar can
boast had enlisted themselves in her behalf-not
from any expectation of any pecuniary reward
or gam for they expected none; they knew they
would receive none; their reward was simply
the privilege OF being able to give "justicc to
her to whom justice was DUE" and their gain 10
know that she was FREE.
Witnesses were called one after another. the
substance of whose evidence showed clearly
the villainy of the whole case that the plotting
and contemplating had been laid SO deeply,
that for more than twenty years it had escaped
the observation of inquisitive eyes; shat the
father Of the woman was Mr.. Goddard, whose
widow claims her as slave that her mother
been married and removed to a Western State
with her husband that when this woman was
born, he (Goddard) placed her in the possession
OF one Of his slaves, "a light mulatto womanl,
with the Injunction that she should rear it as
though it were her own child that this mulatto
was threatened if she divulged the secret of the
chlld's parentage, or acknowledged that she
was not its mother, even to the unfortunate
child, that her life should be the immediate pen
atty. knowing as she did, the sternness of her
master, it is not strange how well she kept the
secret.
That Mrs Goddard knew this woman's parent
age is not doubted, for evidence presented
proves that on one occasion she introduced her
as her daughter, and on another, to secure her
property from attachment, she had secreted her
slaves, retaining this woman in her house, SO
that when the officers came and were about to
take this woman, she teld them that she was
white moman, and not her slave.
The witnesses being all examined and dis
posed OF, then came the argument to the jury.
But who are they who constitute this Jury p
Would they be capable of rendering an impair
tial decision? They we're Pro-Slavery men
more, toe, all of them were slaveholders-
Messrs. John D. Taylor, Richard II. Stanton
and VIM. Fl. Wadsworth, the able counsel for
the prosecution, made their happiest and abest
enorts, while the trlf1ing array OF counsel in
the defence had but little to say; but that
little was much worse than should had been
said
The case being thus submitted to the jury,
they retired to prepare their verdict. Language
is inadequate to express the suspense then prev.
alent in the crowded court room, and when the
jury returned, and the foreman answered the
question of the Judge that they were agreed,
so still and death-like was the crowded hall
that the dropping Of pin, or even the slightest
breath, would have been perfectly audible,
while they waited for the breaking of the seal
ed verdict But when the seal was broken, and
the verdict that the prisoner, though prisoner
no longer, was free, one universal and long
continued shout of applause rent the air. The
who labored so strenuously in her be-
hall, know not how great is their reward. The |
sequel shows that justice in Kentucky is justice
still.