The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-11-28
A SLAVE HUNT IN NEW YORK
New York Tribune.1

"A SLA V e. HUN IN M" " xONA,
 New York Tribune.l
 "I have seen slave hunt within the very shadow of the New York City Hall.' The speaker, William Johnson, was for. merly an architect and builder in this city, and in days "before the war" di. vided his energies between the prosecu- ton of his business and the furthering of the anti-slaverv cause. He now lives in retirement in New Jersey. "The decade fyears from about I842 to 1852" he contin ued, saw New York aboundIng in sensations of every conceivable kind.
 "It was about the middle of this period that the slave hunt have in mind took place; only one Of many similar occur rences, however, under the old fugitive slave law. My office was at that time not far from the City hall, and one morning, as was on my way thither, walking down Park Row, saw d negro running as for his life across the park, with a crowd of roughs in full pursuit. 1 recognized him at once as tue negro who ad been claimed by an alleged owner from the south some days before, and arrested But that very morning Judge Edmunds, III hlS NOdAk hh kAC Slby hSAA, h00 dlS- charged him from custody. As was the custom in those days, his alleged owner at once trumped up some new charge against him-theft 1 think-and sought to have him rearresied. And SO the chase was given to him the moment he got outside of the courtroom. Well, joined the chase, hoping to be ot some service to the fugitive. An intimate friend, Mir. Smith, who was connected with the Tribune. and was a firm friend of the oppressed, also entered the race The negro ran we'll. He crossed the park, dashed down Beekman street to Nassau, and then along Nassau to Ann. As he turned the corner and ran down Ann street his pursuers were close at his heels, so he sprang down stairs into basement occupied as pie bakery, and disappeared. or course, we all rushed in after him but he was not to be seen Smith and had worked car @ay to the foremost ranks of the pursuers. Present. ly Smith noticed that the rear door of the pie shop opened into the engine room of the AaH-SLavery Skandayd publishing house, and as the crowd made rush for it, he led the way in. There was only the engineer to be seen in there. Where's that niggerr roared the crowd. 'N,gger don't know any thing about any nigger,' replied the en- gineer gruff1y, and if you've no business here, you'd better get out mighty sud den.' We'll, the engineer was a m an that not even a crowd of New York roughs cared to fool with, so, alter good deal of grumbling and threatening, they fell back, and returned to the street. Smith had been foremost in demanding the 'nigger,' but noticed that a significant look passed between him and the en- gineer, and few whispered words that nobody else heard. When we got out the bs fiji ed crowd never suspecting that we two were friends of the fugitive Smith said to me, It's all right, He's up stairs, hid in one of the lofts.'
 "Well, the crowd hung around there all day, believing the negro must be hid den in the Anti-SIaVeyy Standard build ing. Night Came on, but still watch was kept up. Next morning went down to business little earlier than usual, and walked down Nassau street, passed the suspected building. A policeman was walking up and down in front of it, not to protect the building from a probable mob, but to help catch the negro, if he should be seen about the premises. For two days the negro remained hidden in that place. They were days ot great anxiety 10 us. We kuew that he was stay there forever, and it seemed impos- sible to get him away, so close watch was kept.
 Finally, after consultation among the leading anti slavery workers, we hit upon apian a la Box Brown, of Ne~ Orleans fame. Dennis Harris, staunch aboli- tonist, was owner ofa huge sugar refn- cry in Duane street, near West Broad way. We knew that the negro would be absolutely safe if we got him over there, and he could stay there as long as neces- saYy. So Harris sent one of his trucks with . faithful driver to the Standard office as if for lot of merchandise Inside the cffice the negro was securely nailed up in a not very large packing box. helped get the box down stairs and on the truck, and then, as the osten. ible owner of it, started across for Haris's sugar house, telling the driver to follow.
 There had been two police men stand ing on the opposite side of Nassau street, intently watching the whole performance. As the truck moved along Nassau street to Beekman and thence to Park Row, they followed 1t. It turned down Park Row, to go around the lower corner Of the park to Broadway. There one of the policemen stopped it and asked the driver what was in the box. The driver eplied it was none of his business. By tAis time . crovd began to gather, and I saw the game was up for the time being.