The Fugitive Slave Law and Its Victims: Anti-Slavery Tracts No. 18May, Samuel
History
The Fugitive Slave Law and Its Victims: Anti-Slavery Tracts No. 18
May, Samuel
Fugitive slaves -- United States; United States -- Fugitive slave law (1850)
About ten o'clock on Sunday, 27th January, 1856, a
party of eight slaves--two men, two women, and four
children--belonging to Archibald K. Gaines and John Marshall,
of Richwood Station, Boone County, Kentucky, about sixteen
miles from Covington, escaped from their owners. Three of the
party are father, mother, and son, whose names are Simon,
Mary, and Simon, Jr.; the others are Margaret, wife of Simon,
Jr., and her four children. The three first are the property
of Marshall, and the others of Gaines.
They took a sleigh and two horses belonging to Mr. Marshall,
and drove to the river bank, opposite Cincinnati, and crossed
over to the city on the ice. They were missed a few hours
after their flight, and Mr. Gaines, springing on a horse,
followed in pursuit. On reaching the river shore, he learned
that a resident had found the horses standing in the road. He
then crossed over to the City, and after a few hours diligent
inquiry, he learned that his slaves were in a house about a
quarter of a mile below the Mill Creek Bridge, on the river
road, occupied by a colored man named Kite.
He proceeded to the office of United States Commissioner John
L. Pendery, and procuring the necessary warrants, with United
States Deputy Marshal Ellis, and a large body of assistants,
went on Monday to the place where his fugitives were
concealed. Arriving at the premises, word was sent to the
fugitives to surrender. A firm and decided negative was the
response. The officers, backed by a large crowd, then made a
descent. Breaking open the doors, they were assailed by the
negroes with cudgels and pistols. Several shots were fired,
but only one took effect, so far as we could ascertain. A
bullet struck a man named John Patterson, one of the
Marshal's deputies; tearing off a finger of his right hand,
and dislocating several of his teeth. No other of the
officers were injured, the negroes being rendered powerless
before they could reload their weapons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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