Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-04-13
GREAT EXCITEM ENT
AT CONCORD, MASS.
ATTEMPT TO
A RR EST f. b. SANBORN
BY UNITED STATES OFFICERS
THE ALARM BELLS RUNG.
The Whole Torn trn ont and prercnt San
born's Jeo,g carried array
THE ALARM BELLS RUNG.
STATEMENT OF MR.. sANBoRN.

which was occasioned by an attempt Of Unit
ed States officers to forciby arrest Mr.. F. B,
Sanborn, and take him to Washington to an
swer for contempt, in refusing to obey the
summons to appear before the Harpers Ferry
Investigating Committee. He was seized and
handoullel. but the officers were prevented
from taking him out of town, a writ of habeas
corpus having been taken out on which he
was delivered from the officers The follow
ing account Of the affair is from an eye witness:
Correspondence Of the Boston JoumaLl
LETTER FROM CONCORD.
CoNooRD, April 3, 1860
70 he Editor Of The Boston Journal
The quiet of this village was broken in on
tonight by the cries OF murder, D." and gem
eral alarm of our citizens, who found, on
reaching the scene, band Of men calling
themselves officers Of the United States SEN
ate holding in the middle Of the road one of
our best beloved and most espected towns
mon, Frank b. Sanborn, handcutfed and with
out either hat or shoes on. 1t seems that
about nine o'clock these men, four or five in
number, knocked at Mr.. Sanborn's house. and
on his opening the door seized him, and with
out reading any prccept or even giving their
names, handcufed him and dragged him to a
and violent resistance called his neighbors to
the place, and prevented their plan of rushing
him off without the knowledge of his friends
Finding that they could not by their united
strength force him into the carriage, as he is
very tall, athletic man, they held on to him,
when, sooner than it takes to tell of it. a
crowd of the sturdy, honest citizens of our
town, of every shade of politics, surrounded
thom. The angry and excited crowd was re-
inforced every minute, and urged by the sight
Of their townsman thus treated almost beyond
endurance, were barely restrained from mob
bng the officers on the spot. His counsel,
Hon. }. S. Keyes, who had been sent for, soon
arrived, and on demanding to see the author
ity for the violent proceedings, was shown the
outside of a paper which it was stated was
signed by the Vice President of the United
States, directed to the Sergeant-at-Arm of
the Senate, and by him endorsed over to one
Silas Carlton, who was the chief man of those
holding Mr.. Sanborn. The others gave their
names as Tarlton, Coolidge and Freeman, and
the carriage driver was A. j. Foss, all of Bos-
ton. The crowd thickenod. The church
bells rang out an alarm. Cries of take him
away take off those handouts release him
were freely uttered, and every moment the
excitement increased. An application was
made by his counsel for a writ of habeas cor
pus to the Hon. f. II. Hoar, Judge of the
Supreme Court, and writ at once granted.
The Deputy Sheriff was sent for, and upon
his arrival the precept OF the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts was served by Deputy Sher
f John b. Moore, assisted by as willing n
posse and as efficient as ever aided a service
before. Carlton, refusing to give up his pris-
oner and demanding copy of the writ, was-
taken off of Mr.. Sanborn by the Deputy Shor-
i'll so quickly that he did not even miss his
hat, which he lost in the struggle, and at the
command Of assistance the Others were scat
tered as quickly and cffectually. Mr.. Sanborn
was in tho hands Of friends before his own
door, and was again free citizen of Massa-
chusetts The resistance to the writ added
fame to the excitement, and Carlton and his
men were pretty roughly handled. But for
the interposition Of some leading citizens, they
would have been mobbed, and treated to even
more discourtesy than they had used toward
their prisoner But, thanks to the w-abid-
ing spirit of New England men, they were
permitted to leave in their carriage, saluted by
groans and misses, and perhaps yolleys of even
more disagreeablc things, and thus sent out
of Concord, having learned a lesson they will
not soon forget. Quiet was restored when
they had departed, though bands of citizens
patrolled the streets for hours, and took good
care that no new attempt was made to arrest
again.
We have received from Mr.. Sanborn the
following statement of his affair:
STATEMENT or MR.. SANBORN.
CoNooRn, April 3--ll IL p. NJ.
To The Citizens Of Hassachuseas
have TO inform you that a cowardly as
sault was committed on me this evening at
about Q Ia o'clock, in my oioR house, by four
or five persons claiming to have authority to
arrest me. The facts are these:
/ came in from a call about o'clock, and
was sitting, in my slippers, at my desk, when
knocking called me to the door | went
down stairs, opened the door, when small
man entered and said, "Does Mr.. Sanborn
live here :" THAT is my name, sir, =" said |,
putting out my hand to welcome him. Here
is a paper for YOU said he, handing me "a
folded one, which took.
At that moment grey haired, tall aud
stout man entered the open door and said 81
arrest you, Mr. Sanborn," "Bywhat author
ity,' said /, land what is your name :" lie
gave no name, but said 81 am from the Unit
ca olalcs mhlshdi once, or something OF
that sort, "What is your authority-your
warrant" repeated /. "We have a warrant,
said some one, for by this time two more men
appeared. "Show tread it, said |. A
small man, calling himself Freeman (after-
wards, for none would give their names, be-
gan to read paper, but had got only through
few lines, when the grey-haired ruiliau took
pair of handouts from his pocket and pro-
ceeded to put them on my wrists, standing
in my own house, without hat or boots on
ly in slippers Of cloth.
A whistle was given some men rushed in,
none Of them known to me. and carried me
by force to the street. whore stood a carriage
with two horses. They lifted me FROM the
ground, and tried to put me in the carriage
resisted with my feet, for my hands were
fast in the manaees. They tried two or three
times without success, breaking the carriage,
but the horses started and they could not get
me in. In the meantime, my cries and those
of my sister had called my ncighbors from
their homes, who surrounded the rutans and
prevented them from carrying me of.
stood in the street in my slippers half an