The Fugitive Slave Law and Its Victims: Anti-Slavery Tracts No. 18May, Samuel
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The Fugitive Slave Law and Its Victims: Anti-Slavery Tracts No. 18
May, Samuel
Fugitive slaves -- United States; United States -- Fugitive slave law (1850)
_A Proposition for Kidnapping_, on a large scale, was made by
John H. Pope, "police officer and constable," in a letter
dated "Frederick, Maryland, United States of America, January
1, 1855," and addressed to Mr. Hays, Sheriff of Montreal,
Canada. "Vast numbers of slaves," says Mr. Pope, "escaping
from their masters or owners, succeed in reaching your
Provinces, and are, therefore, without the pale of the
'Fugitive Slave Law,' and can only be restored by cunning,
together with skill. Large rewards are offered and will be
paid for their return, and could I find an efficient person
to act with me, a great deal of money could be made, as I
would equally divide. * * * The only apprehension we have in
approaching too far into Canada is the fear of being
arrested; and had I a good assistant in your city, who would
induce the negroes to the frontier, I would be there to pay
the cash. On your answer, I can furnish names and
descriptions of negroes."
This letter was published, doubtless at the Montreal Sheriff's
request, in the _Montreal Gazette_, January 13, 1855.
--> The _Montreal Gazette_, of February 3, published a second letter
from J.H. Pope.
_A warrant was issued in Boston_, January 10, 1855, by United
States Commissioner Charles Levi Woodbury, for the arrest of
JOHN JACKSON, as a fugitive from service and labor in
Georgia. Mr. Jackson, who had been for some time in the city,
was nowhere to be found.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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