Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-04-06
AFTERNOON SESSION.

Court convened at 2 o'clock and jury and
witnesses called. Mr.. Riddle remarked that on
| consultation with the counsel for the defence,
he wished to temporarily withdraw the plea of
mot guilty" on the part of the defendant, for
the purpose of making motion to quash the
indictment Judge WILSON and Atty BELDEN
raising no objections to this request, the motion
was filed with the Clerk
John g. Bacon, the alleged owner of the me-
gro John" is a man below the medium size,
with sharp eyes, gray hair and dark whiskers.
Jennings, his agent in taking this boy, is tall,
powerful man with iron gray hair, (erect like
Gen. Jackson's) and heavy whiskers of the same
color He has a slave driver, look upon him
that will by no means prejudice any one in his
favor
Attorney BELDEN having read to the Jury the
indictment against SIMEON BELDEN, then read
from the Fugitive Slave Law relative to such
offences as BELDEN is charged with. He re.
lated the facts of the bondage and escape oftbis
person (Mr. BELDEN evidently forgot himself
here. He should have said ofthis thing, this
ehattel or this baggage, for does he not know
that a slave is by no means human person. -
Mr.. Bushnell and others had, with force of
arms, taken this slave from the custody of the
agent, Mr.. Jennings, much against the wish of
the said Jennings and Of the slaUs himself. This
joke was highly amusing to the spectators and
members of the bar
Judge SPAULDING, for The defence said that
they should take the bold ground that no Of
fence had been committed by the defendant un
der the Constitution. They should claim that
the negro John did not owe service to this John
G. Bacon. Indeed the indictment did not
set forth that service was owed to Bacon from
John, and in order to bring the offence under
the penalty OF the law, it must be found that
the fugitive owed service under the laws of the
State. They should say in defense that this
man John owed no service to this man Bacon,
and they should show that at the time of the
rescue, this negro was being spirited away by
false, fraudulent and scandalous pretences.
The first witness called was John G, Bacon,
Che alleged owner of the negro John S. Reides
on farm in Mason county, Ky. Has always
lived in Kentucky, owned a slave called John
from l947 to January 1856. Don't know where
h. is now This John was "nigger" about
feet OF 10 inches high-was about ls when
he left his servioe--was copper colored--heavy
built-descended to him from his parent es-
tate. His mother was a slave and is still in
service. John was his property. Never sold
him. He ran off in January 1856. He and
another slave named Frank and "nigger wo- |
man" named Dinah, ran off together and took |
two horses which were recovered Dinah was
also his slave They went off without consent. |
Executed power OF Attorney to Anderson Jsn
nngs September 4th 1858 to take this negro |
John. Has never seen John since he ran off |
Cross Examined. lived in Mason Co |
all his life. Father died in ls45 or ls46 and |
left six children, all of whom are now living
John was born on his fathers farm. Was pres,
ent at the time and knew oft Was 5 or l6 |
years old at the time. There were 25 or 80 ne. |
groes then living on the farm, male and female I
Has no knowledge that Johns mother was a |
slave more than that she worked on the farm |
without pay or reward Had never purchased |
John but held him as an heir He was away
from home when the negroes ran away, and !
left an Irshman to take charge Of the farm He
does not now own a slave, except John, and be |
is in Canada He left Dinah, John and Pete |
(the Irishman) at home. The horses DC were
in charge of Peter and John (ApOstate names,)
Lives about quarter of mile from the Ohio
river The ferry across the Ohio was about
two miles below his residence Found the
horses a week after the negroes left in Ohio
about 20 miles from Ripley. Jennings had
heard of a "nigger" answering to the general
description Of John while hunting one Of his
ownin consequences Of which the power Of At
torney was granted Jennings said he had
found good many "niggers" at Oberlin and
vicinity. To the question as 10 how much Jen-
nings was to be paid for recovering the slave.
Judge GEo Bliss, (who was acting in cOniuno-
ton with Judge BELDEN) objected The OBJ.
lection being Overuled Bacon replied that he
was to have one half Of the negro, He had
confidence in jennings ability to catch the
slave
Robert A. Cochran, Clerk of the Court in
Mason County, KY, sWOm.-The power Of
Attorney from Bacon to Jennings was made
out and signed by a Deputy CLERK. Has known
Mr. Bacon for nine years. Knew nothing per-