Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-09-04
Correspondence Of the Pittsburgh ~Dlspatchl
q WHITE SLAVE DECLARED FREE.
MADISON County, Ky, August, 1868.

MADlSON OOINTN, N.Y., august, 1000.
Ga Aug. IL and II. one of the most exciting
cases ever occurring in this section Of country. and
one, too, in which the feelings of all were deeply
enlisted, came before the Circuit Court. The cir
cumstances of the case, briefly stated, are these
About a year and a half since, q woman was ar.
rested by order Of II man named Dodson (octing as
agent for one Mrs. Goddard, and brought to our
town and lodged in Jail foi safe keeping until fur
Their disposition could be made of her person the
intention of The person or persons ordering her ar
rest undoubtedly Icing to sell her 20 80 down
South.
Seeing what appeared to every one q white wo'
man held in bondage as n StuCe, and conh1cd IN a
negro Jail, enlisted the deepest feeling in her be-
half. She was Immediately taken from her cap.v-
ity, a bond was drawn and signed by some OF our
most worthy citizens for her security, and she no,
turned to her home and her friends. The truth OF
the matter was this She had been held as a slave
more than twenty years, and to make it appear
more fully that she was a slave, her so-called own
err had recognized her marriage with a negro man,
which she, ignorant that she was not a slave, had
consented to. Thus was n dark vail thrown over
the scene, to blind more fully those who much
sooner would have looked into and ferreted out
this unprecedented case. When her alleged own
ers found out that she intended suing for her free
dom, upon the ground that she was not a negro but
n white woman. with not q particle of negro blood
in her veins, they had her arrested and lodged in
jail, so as to sell her to go South, ;bus getting her
out of the way. and thereby relieving themselves
of further trouble.
But thanks be to God. they were checked in their
double dyed villainy. A suit for her freedom was
instantly instituted, and on Tuesday and Wednes
day the trial came off in our Circuit Court, the Sc.
quel of which is as follows:
The very ablest counsel of which our bar can
boast had enlisted themselves in her behalf-not
from any expectation of any pecuniary reward or
gain, for they expected none they knew they
would receive none their reward was simply the
| rivtlan pf hatpO ol1a tO uiva t,n stina m hos uhnn1
justice was DUE" and their gain to know that she
was FREE.
Witnesses were called one after another, the sub.
! stance of whose evidence showed clearly the vii
lainy of the whole clse that the plotting and cOun.
ter-plotting had been laid so deeply that, for more
than twenty years. it had escaped the observation
of inqulsitiye eyes that the father of the woman
was Mr.. Goddard. whose widow claims her as q
slave that her mother was q respectable white
woman, who has since 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 os his slaves, Ia light muiat'
to woman with the injunction that she should rear
it as though it was her own child that this mulat-
to was threatened if she divulged the secret IF the
child's true parentage, or acknowledge that she
5 was not it's mother, even to the unfortunate child
that her life should be the immediate penalty
e Knowing as she did, the sternness of her master
r 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 proof'
that on one occasion she introduced her as hel
daughter, and on another, to secure her property
from attachment, she had secreted her slaves, re
tanning this woman in her house, so that when the
! officers came and were about to take this woman
she told them that she was a white woman, and no
her slave.
The witnesses being all examined and disposed
: of, then came the argument to the jury. But VIII,
, are they who constitute this jary? Would they br
capable of rendering an impartial decision They
were Pro-Slavery men-and more, too, all of then
Q were Shareholders. Messrs. John ID Taylor, Rich
i ard Ii. Stanton and Wm. ii. Wadsworth, the ALL,
:, counsel for the prosecution, making their happies
c and ablest efforts, while the trifling array OF coun
sci in the defence had but little to say; but tina
d little was much worse than should have been said
The case being thus submitted to the Jury, the,
y retired to prepare their verdict. Language is in
adequate to express the suspense then prevalent il
the crowded Courtroom, and when the Jury re
turned, and the foreman answered the question o.
!, the Judge that they were agreed, so still and death
E like was the crowded hall that the dropping of
+ pin, or even the slightest breath, would have beer
! perfectly audible, while they waited for the break
> ing OF the sealed verdict. But when the seal wa
, broken, and the verdict read that the prisone
, was free, one universal long continued shout Of ap
: plause rent the air. The counsel who labored 81
simultaneously in her behalf, knew not how grea
is their reward. The sequel shows that justice il
Kentucky is justice still.