History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2: Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as CitizensWilliams, George Washington
History
History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2: Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens
Williams, George Washington
African Americans -- History; Liberia; Sierra Leone
"'And each and every person who shall knowingly do any act
forbidden as aforesaid, or shall be aiding or assisting therein,
shall for the first offense forfeit and pay to the treasurer of
this State a fine of $100, and for the second offense $200, and
so double for every offense of which he or she shall be
convicted; and all informing officers are required to make due
presentment of all breaches of this act.'
"On the receipt of the tidings of the passage of this law, the
people of Canterbury were wild with exultation; the bells were
rung and a cannon was fired to manifest the joy. On the 27th of
June, Miss Crandall was arrested and arraigned before Justices
Adams and Bacon, two of those who had been the earnest opponents
of her enterprise; and the result being predetermined, the trial
was of course brief, and Miss Crandall was 'committed' to take
her trial at the next session of the Supreme Court at Brooklyn,
in August. A messenger was at once dispatched by the party
opposed to Miss Crandall to Brooklyn, to inform Mr. May, as her
friend, of the result of the trial, stating that she was in the
hands of the sheriff, and would be put in jail unless he or some
of her friends would 'give bonds' for her in a certain sum."
The denouement may be related most appropriately in the language of
Mr. May:
"I calmly told the messenger that there were gentlemen enough in
Canterbury whose bond for that amount would be as good or better
than mine, and I should leave it for them to do Miss Crandall
that favor. 'But,' said the young man, 'are you not her friend?'
'Certainly,' I replied, 'too sincerely her friend to give relief
to her enemies in their present embarrassment, and I trust you
will not find any one of her friends, or the patrons of her
school, who will step forward to help them any more than myself.'
'But, sir,' he cried, 'do you mean to allow her to be put in
jail?' 'Most certainly,' was my answer, 'if her persecutors are
unwise enough to let such an outrage be committed.' He turned
from me in blank surprise, and hurried back to tell Mr. Judson
and the justices of his ill success.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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