The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-05


obtaining possession of any colored man whom
he would swear had been his property or a
portion of the estate to which he had fallen /
heir. The cases subsequent to 1901 gave rise TO !
considerable excitement in this and other cities,
and especially in Philadelphia because OF its
nearness to the borders of the slave States. No
instance where negro was arrested on the
charge of being fugitive from labor occurred
in which the prisoner was not attended by the
agent of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society,
and his interests carefully guarded by its learned
counsellors The following are the more inn
portant of these cases.
The Case of Henry Garnet.
This was the first case which transpired under
the new order of things and the first to be
heard before a justice of the Supreme court;
The claimant was Thomas Price Jones' OF Cecil
county, Md, whe in his affidavit set forth that
he was the executor and residuaTy legatee OF
Benedict Jones, deceased; that Henry Garnet
belonged to the estate of Benedict Jones; that
he was held to labor for a number of years; aud
that said Henry had run away from MS owner
as long ago as the year lSi2; After hearing
witnesses. the documentary evidence found
to be informal, aud Judge GTier discharged the
The Case of Adam Gibson.
About o'clock on the afternoon of Dec 81, 1850
Adam Gibson, young black man, claiming to
be q resident of New Jersey, was arrested at
Second and Lombard streets by George Albert
William McKinsley, and Robert Smith, nomi-
nally on a charge of stealing chickens, but
really as being runaway slave. lie was
>
and the matter soon became noised around
The news spread quickly, and in a very short
time a crowd was attracted about the office.
The then Commissioners, Edward ID. lngraham,
was sent for, and appeared in few moments
Counsel for the prisoner asked for a postpone
ment for an hour in order that witnesses might
be summoned but the Commissioner decided
against the application, stating that proper
adherence to the spirit of the law would not
permit or allow of any postponement. But one
witness, and that not the owner testified that
Adam, or, as he had been formerly known,
Emory Rice, was the property of William
Knight, of Cecil county, Md. Several witnesses
testified that Adam had never been the property
of Mr.. Knight but that he had belonged TO one
Parson Davis, who in his will stated that his
slaves should be handed over to the State Colo
nization Society upon his DEATH His will was
produced and notwithstanding the document
and the evidence of living Witnesses Adam was
remanded. However, he returned to his home
on the following Monday, Mr.. Knight, his sup
posed master, having promptly said that he was
not his slave. Subsequent investigation dis
closed the fact that at the time Adam Gibson
was arrested, Emory Rice, the alleged fugitive
slave, was in conversation with Gibson, and
that Alberti and his party mistook the one for
the other. Alberti and the others concerned in
the arrest of Gibson were taken into custody,
and after hearing were held to answer the
charge of conspiring to kdnap. No further
action was taken in the matter.
The Case of stephen Bennett.
On January oath, 1851, Stephen Bennett was
taken before Commissioner Ingraham, charged
with being a fugitive from the service of Edward
B. Gallop, of Baltimore. He had been arrested
in Columbia Pa, the day previous, while at
work saving wood in the street. upon warrant
issued by the Marshal. A writ of habeas corpus
was taken out, returnable on Friday morning.
At that hour the prisoner taken before
Judge Kane. 1t was in this case that the ques-
tion was raised that the Commissioner, under
the Fugitive Slave act, could not issue war
rant to be served out of the county but the
Court overruled the point, holding that it could
be served anywhere in Pennsylvania. After the
examination of a number of witnesses, the
Judge remanded Stephen into the custody
of Mr.. Gallop. Bennett acknowledged that he
was the property of this gentleman who had
always been very kind to him, but that he had
run away from fear that he would be sold aud
sent South. At this time the Democracy in the
Legislature made desperate attempt to repeal
the act preventing kidnapping, but bill to that
effect was defeated in the Senate by one vote.
The Case of lamar Williams
On February 6, 1851, this woman, the mother
of six children, all of whom had been born in
this State, was taken from her residence at Fifth
street and Germantown road, before Commis-
sOner Ingraham. She was claimed as the pro-
perty of William L. Purnell, of Worcester county,
Maryland. A writ of habeas corpus produced
the prisoner before Judge Kane, and after seve-
raj days of patient investigation, the trial caus-
ing the most intense excitement throughout the
city, the Judge decided that the testimony of
the witnesses for the defense made the fact
overwhelmingly clear that she was not the per-
son claimed, and he therefore directed her dis
charge. After jubilee at the Philadelphia In
stitute by the colored people, Mrs. Williams
was dragged in a wagon by the crowd to her
residence, amid the shouts and songs of rejoc-
ing of hundreds who surrounded the cOrtege
Conviction of George Albert.
On the last day of February, 1851 George f.
Albert and John F. Price were tried and con-
victed of a charge of kidnapping Joel Henry
Thompson, a free colored child, and removing
himto Maryland, where he was sold into bondage
Sentence was deferred for several months and
when imposed by Judge Parsons, Governor
Bigler pardoned both convicts. A series of re.
solutions passed the Maryland Legislature
thanking Governor Bigler for this act and
remunerating the prisoners for the time they
lost in consequence OF their conviction.
The Treason Trial.
During the month of November, 1851 the city
was thrown into wild state of excitement by
the trial of Castner Hanway, on q charge oil
treason, which arose out of light at Christiana
in September. Edward Gorsuch, saVeholdine
citizen of Maryland, accompanied by few oi
his relatives and friends, pursued his fugitive
slaves to the village of Chrstiana, in salisbury
township, Lancaster county, where it was sup
posed, they had found refuge from their oppres
sors. The warrants for the arrest of these fugi
tiyes were obtained from Commissioner Ingra
ham, and were committed to Henry H. Kline
who accompanied the STAKEHOLDER for the pur
pose OF executing them. But though their plO
was carefully formed, though they chose the
still hour of early morning, when darkness auC
slumber rested on the valley which they ruth
lessly invaded, they were defeated. The spiri
of freedom lived even in the breasts of slaves
and they boldly defended their inalienable RICH
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Ii
this conflict the stakeholder Edward Gorsuch
was killed, some OF his accomplices wounded
and all of them driven from the ground
Judge Kanes charge to the Grand Jury wa
followed by the finding of true bills agains
thirty persons who were indicted for treason