Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-05-28
WHOLE NUMBER 400.

any man, white or black, seeks an investi-
cation of that claim, they make themselves
amenable to the pains and penalties Of the
Fugitive Slave Act, for black men hare no
rights 1ohich Dhite men are hound to 7espsa
| (Great applause) ], going to Wellington
with the full knowledge of all this, knew
that If that man was taken to Columbus be
was hopelessly gone, no matter whether be
had ever been in slavery before or not.
| knew that / was in the same situation my
self, and that by the decision Of your Honor
| if any man whatever were to claim me as
his slave and seize me- and my brother, be-
! ing lawyer, should seek to get out writ
Of hdbeas corpus to expose the falsity Of the
claim he would be thrust into prison under
one provision of the Fugitive Slave law,
for interfering with the man claiming 10 be d
in pursuit of fugitive, and ], by the per. \
Jury of solitary wretch, would by another
of its provisions be helplessly doomed TO 6
lifelong bondage, without the possibility Of
escape.
Some may soy that there is no danger Of
| free persons being seized and carried OF as
slaves No one need labor under such
delusion. Sir, four Of the eight persons
who were first carried back under the act
of 1850, were afterwards proved to be fTee
men. They we're free persons, but wholly
at the mercy of the oath of one man. And
but last Sabbath afternoon letter came to
me from gentleman in St. Louis inform
ing me that young lady who was formerly
under my instructions at Columbus a free
person, is now lying in the Jail at that place
claimed as the slave Of some wretch who
never saw her before, and waiting for testi-
mony from relatives at Columbus to estab.
lish her freedom / could stand here by
the hour and relate such instances. In the
| very nature of the case they must be con-
stan tly occurring A letter was not long
since found upon the person OF counter
feiter when arrested, addressed to him by
some Southern gentleman in which the
writer says: r sf @
"Go among the niggers fud out their
marks aud scars make good descriptions
and send to me, and I'll find masters for
'em.S s aa c aota
That is the way men are carried ''backs
to slavery
But in view of all the facts, / say, that,
if ever again man is seized near me, and
is about to be carried southwark as slave
before any legal investigation has been had,
| / shall hold it to be my duty as l held 1t
that day, to secure for him If possible le-
gal inquiry into the character of the claim
by which he is held And / go further /
say that if it is adjudged illegal to procure
even such an investigation, then we are
thrown back upon those last defenses of our
rights which cannot be taken from US, and
which God gave US that we need not be
| slaves. +.t
ask your Honor, while I say this, to
place yourself in my situation, and You will
say with me, that if your brother your
friend, if your wife, if your child, had been
seized by men who claimed them as fugt-
tiVes, and the law Of the land forbade you
to ask any investigation, and precluded the
possibility Of any legal protection or re-
dress-then you will say with me, that you
would not only demand the protection of
the law, but you would call in your neigh
bors and your friends, and would ask them
to say with you, that these your friends
could not be taken into slavery.
And now thank you for this leniency.
this indulgence, in giving a man unjustly
condemned, by tribunal before which he
is declared to have no rights, the privilege
of speaking In his own behalf. / know
that it will do nothing toward mitigating
your sentence, but it is privilege to be al
lowed to speak, and thank you for Il. 1
| shall submit to the penalty, be it what il 4
may. But stand up here to say, that il
for doing what | did do on that day at
/ Wellington, am to go in Jail for six months,
and pay fine of thousand dollars, &C.
eording to the Fugitive Slave Law, and
such is the protection the laws of this coun.
try afford me, must take upon myself the
responsibility of self protection when I
come to be claimed by some periured wretch
as his slave, shall never be taken into
slavery. And as in that trying hour I
would have Others to do to me, as I wonld
call upon my friends to help me, as ! would
call upon you, your Honor, to help me as
l would call upon you, to the District At
tom to help me and upon you, ITO
Judge Bliss and upon you, to bis counsel1
so help aSe GoD stand here TO say that
| will do all can, for any mau thus seized
and held, though the inevitable penalty Of
six months Imprisonment and one thousand
dollars 6ne for each offense hangs over me
We have all common humanity, and you
all wOHld do that; your manhood would
require it and no matter what the laws
might be, you would honor yourself for do
ing it, while your friends aud your children
TO all generations would honor you for do
ing it, end every good and honest man
would say, you had done right! (Great
and prolonged applause, in spite of the ef-
forts of Court and Marshal. IS a.rrs
A CHfLD POISONED WITH WmsKY.-One
Of those terrible occurrences, which reveal
most startliugly the death that turks within
the cup of strong drink---the poisoning of
child by stolen draughts from bis fathers
bottle--happened In North buffalo on the
18th. A little boy, only five or six years
Of age, was sent by his father to grocery
to purchase pint Of whiskey. He was
accompanied by his cousin. little fellow Of
about the same age, and the two, when they
had obtained the lieuor, instead Of return
ing home with it, went off by themselves
aud sat down to initiate the example which.
their elders had set them. It Is not likely