The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

and return of fugitive slave, was $1,000
fine and long Imprisonment.
Having enacted these liberty laws"
the revolutionary party turned its atten-
tion to the promotion of the under
ground railroad This was the name by
which a systematic method of entice-
ment of slaves to escape was pursued
and facilities for their journey north
ward were laid. Tt was most ingenious
contrivance, unknown to any other ueo-
pie of the earth. Agents were sent, male
and female. into the south to explain the
scheme to the slaves. Escaped individual
slaves were sent back to their old homes
in the south to spread the news of their
easier life in the places of refuge. Men
and women of all degrees and conditions
of life ardently engaged in the work of
the underground railroad. Rev. o. B.
Cheney president of Bates college, was
an ardent promoter in the west. Judges
of state courts made no secret of their
sympathy with the method. William and
Ellen Craft fugitive slaves, arrived at
Boston. Report of pursuit reached them.
Rev Theodore Parker and other promi-
nent citizens of the town advised and
aided in their escape to England.
Along the frontier of the border states,
stations were established for the recep-
tion and forwarding of fugitive slaves.
Along roads designated in Ohio, Illinois,
New York and New England private resi-
dences were selected as stations for aiding
and forwarding fugitive slaves bound for
Canada. owen Brown. father of "Os-
sawotimie" (John) Brown, was one of the
most active of underground railroad OPP
orators.
In Boston about 10 years before the
war at different times, Shadrack and
Sims. fugitive slaves, under arrest by
United States officers, were seized while
T,it to1 Seinnpr nd
released by mob. Charles Sumner.
later senator of high distinction, was
an adviser of the mob. Sims was re-
arrested and escorted to the wharf where
he embarked for Charleston, S. c., by
800 policemen.
On May a. 1854, fugitive slave who
had for a considerable time remained
unmolested by his southern master, was
arrested by the federal authorities in
Boston. The city ran wild with excite
ment Hand bills were posted calling n
public meeting at Faneuil hall. The
prisoner was confined in the courthouse.
Wendell Phillips and Theodore Parker
made inhammatory addresses to the
crowded mass meeting. The meeting sent
a mob to the court that battered down a
bolted door. One of the deputies de-
Tending the place was killed from out
side. Two companies of artillery and
two companies of the marine force We're
put on guard The -prisoner was tried
and the commissioner returned him.to his
master. On his way to the United States
revenue cutter in the harbor, bound for
Virginia, he was escorted by a full bat
TALON of artillery, about Is cannon, by
four platoons of marines and by very
large police force. Fifty thousand spec
tators lined the streets when he passed.
Similar demonstrations against the au-
thority of the federal government were
familiar scenes in practically all the free
states. while in the south no secession
party existed or could have been formed.
The southern people were generally and
sincerely averse to taking any step to
dissolve the union. They understood the
negro in their midst and his mental cal
ibre and moral stamina. They had raised
the race up to a plane of mental and
moral elevation never elsewhere found
The south thoroughly well understood
the northern movement in resistance to
the constitution of the United States and
the fundamental theories of the union. As
early as January, 1S49, southern senators
and representatives in Congress united in
Issuing an address to their constituent
cies. This very remarkable utterance
warned the south that the real aim of
the new party was to free and enfran-
chise the whole body of slaves, In order
by their suffrage to strengthen itself up
TO the point OF power to dominate the
government
The New England Anti-Slayery society
converted itself into an immigration fac
tor. The purpose was TO colonixe the ter
rltcry Of Kansas with SO great rapidity