The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1905-09-08
BY CHARLES l.: SHIPLEY.

Connected with the Eighth
District of Baltimore County and
also with the history of the Cor.
such family, is that of the great
ChriStiana tragedy that occurred
near the town of ChriStiana,
Lancaster County, Pa, in the
month of September, 1851, an
event that served to feed the
angry flames of the slavery agi-
tation which at that period was
fast assuming the phase that ten
years later plunged our country
into the fratricidal rebellion of
1876.
The event was the outgrowth
of the passage of the Fugitive
Slave lava law that entitled
the Southern slave owners to
reclaim their runaway negroes in
any of the free States upon the
application to the proper a1thor-
ity for assistance.
This law was passed by Con
gress September Il, 1850, and
soon after received the signature
of President Fillmore. 1t was an
outgrowth consequent upon the
admission of the State of Cali
foruia, and was a compromise
measure formed by Henry Clay,
he hoping thereby to stem the
rising tide which was fast hasten.
ing the dissolution of the Union.
Space and time, however, will
not permit us to discuss the po-
litiCal aspect of the law in its
effect upon the country at large;
that we leave to the national his
tory of our republic, and pass on
to the relation of the bloody
tragedy which was the result of
the futile attempt to apply the
same in an effort to reclaim a
number of runaway negroes, the
slaves of Mr.. Edward ID. Gorsuch,
near Cockeysville
During the year 1913 two negro
slaves, named Josh aud Nelson.
ran away from Mr. Gorsuch and
took refuge near ChTistiana. Pa.
Three years later the passage of
the act above described, giving
authority TO slave owners to re
cover their property, aud having
received information of their
place of concealment, in Septem-
Der, 1851, Mr.. Gorsuch, with his
son, Dickinson. his two nephews,
DR.. Thomas G. Pearce and Josh.
ua GorSuch, and Nathan Nelson
and Nicholas Hutchins, set out
for Pennsylvania for the purpose
of retaining the fugitives and
bringing them back to this State.
In Philadelphia they obtained
the warrants and other legal
papers, and were accompanied
from there by Deputy United
States Marshal Henry I. Kline.
ATTACK ON THE sHERIFF's
PossE-THE MURDER OF MR..
GoRSUCH.
On Thursday, September, IL,
they found the fugitives at a
house near ChriStiana, and which
was also occupied by large
number of other negroes. Mr..
Gorsuch recognized his slaves
and called to them that if they
would return home with him they
would be forgiven and be we'll
treated. Their companions in
cited them to resist, and when
the Deputy Marshal read the
warrants and declared that he
would execute them, even if com
PEELED to shed blood, the negroes
set up a shout of defiance and
dared the Marshal to advance.
An axe was thrown and a gun
fired at Edward Gorsuch. where.
upon the Marshal and his aides
discharged their pistols into the
windows of the house, and in
this manner a desultory skirmish
was kept mp for some time. A
stone thrown from one of the
windows wounded DR.. Pearce in
the head.
Two white men, one of whom
was said to be a Quaker named
Caster Hanway, now appeared in
the lane IN front of the house and
were summoned by Marshal Kline
to assist in the arrest. which
they refused to do. warning him
and his friends that they had
better go home or there would be
trouble. Parties of armed negroes
now commenced to arrive from all
directions, and Marshal Kline,
seeing the ominous turn of af-
fairs, with his two assistants re-
tired from the field.
The Messrs. Gorsuch and DR..
Pearce were still guarding the
house to prevent the negroes from
escaping, when the supposed
Quaker said something to the
crowd of negroes ON the outside,