Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-05-17
ON nr LniI.

put on war footing. The money panic III
London had subsiJed.
Out OF Jail.
On Saturday last Matthew Gillette, the last
of the Wellington portion of the Rescue men,
left Jail, to rejoin his family, having accepted
the proposition made by the Marshal, when
first committed, to give his word not to escape.
This leaves none but the Oberlin men in pris-
on who are still impatiently awaiting that
crown of political martyrdom, under the sin
gular hallucinatiOn that the world is admir-
ing, while it but laughs at the folly of these
miserable dupes of more designing men.
Mr.. Gillette is near three-fourths Of cen
tury old, and was, until he set the laws Of his
country at defiance among the most respecta-
BILE of the people of Wellington. No doubt he
has deeply repented his folly, and will, in this
respect, sin no mOre.-kdtiOnalD Democrat, May
9M
This announcement of the Jeffreys Court
organ, does rank injustice to the venerable pa
trot whose backbone for the right is still stf
as crow bar When his Wellington neigh
bors caved under the threats, Establishments, and
misrep presentations of the Court officials, Mr..
Gillette stood firm as the frmest of the "Obel-
lin men," He would not compromise honor
and self-respect for personal liberation from
hated prison in which he had been unjustly
thrust by paid Government Pursuers. have
done nothing wrong, nothing | regret and
will not accept terms of dishonor was his con-
slant language. To give bail, enter into his
own recognizanee, or pledge his word Of honor
to the NJ lrshal for his return when wanted, he
utterly and persistently refused. Judge Spald
ing and Mr.. Backus are my counsel, said the
noble old man, when they send for me
will come in. will give no other pledge, and
come in on no other notice. You can send me
home, or keep me in prison as you choose The
Marshal, thoroughly ashamed at last with the
Court treatment of man nearly fourscore and
guilty of no crime which God, nor man outside
Of the United States, condemns, told him tn go
on his own terms-and Mr.. Gillette honorably
"left jail,t rejon his family, from which be had
been needlessly, maliciOusy, and cruelty sePa-
rated for weeks, and incarcerated in a lOatlsOme
prison by the fit instruments of law whose
tender mercies have no parallel in the blackest
despotsms of the world Mr.. Gillette has since
been in the city, dned with the Oberlin pris-
oners refused to plead noh eontendre, and re-
turned home again on his own terms. He said
his sons would not receive him should he plead
otherwise than mot guilty" They inherit the
old mans spinal column,
This is not the first time the venerable Mr..
Gillette has been in the hands of the slave
Philistines When the Chesapeake and Ohio
b,tl tba Nd and
breeders had to look to free Yankee enterprise
for contractors. Mr.. Gillette, then residing in
Connecticut, constructed a section OF the great
work la 1882 he removed with a daughter to
Maryland and spent two years IN prosecuting
his lob During his cbsence on one occasion
to his New England home, lot of human chat
tells belonging on a plantation adjacent TO his
work came up missing, for the underground
road though still but a mud-pike, WAS then
occasionally travelled by colored Marylanders
On Mr.. Gilettes return he was charged with
stealing away the slaves He was arrested
taken to the county town for imprisonment
but Maryland Slave-owners in those days beinl
more humane than Ohio Slave tools in these
he was not thrust into jail They proposed
that he should give bail. This Mr. G. refused
to do. He told his captors they could put him
in Jail or notas they chose. He had not stoIer
negroes had broken no law. and would moi
give bail. After consulting with magistrate
he was suffered to remain out of Jail over night
In the morning he still refused to give bail
They then proposed to discharge him if HI
would pay the costs This he also positively
refused to do. He woull 60 TO Jail if thel
dared to commit the outrage on an innocent
man, but would not pay cent Of costs. AT
ter again consulting together, they let the in
flexible Yankee 60 Jail and costs free
When the Government Pursuers fastened oI
the white headed veteran 'near three fourths 0
century old" in obedience to the administra
lou mediate 1--WE will subdue you, they expect
ed the spirit of tottering age would be sasil,
"crushed out" But they went back too nea
the Revolutionary days when resistance to ty
rants was obedience to God" for at least on
victim Of their remOrseless persecution Mi
Gillette triuBphed over his Slave oppressoI
in 1859 as he did in 1882, and is still hon
Ored "Amorg the most respectable Of the peo
pie of Wellington" His good name and nobl
conduct will be gratefully treasured when hi
manly form is beyond the reach Of the petit
tyrants posterity will surely
damn to everlasting fame"