The Journal of Negro History, Volume 5, 1920Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 5, 1920
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
A few months later, at Syracuse, a respectable man of color named
Jerry McHenry was arrested as a fugitive on the complaint of a slaver
from Missouri. He made an attempt to escape and failed. The town,
however, was crowded with people who had come to a meeting of the
County Agricultural Society and to attend the annual convention of the
Liberty Party. On the evening of October 1, 1851, a descent was made
upon the jail by a party led by Gerrit Smith and Rev. Samuel J. May,
both well-known abolitionists. The Negro was rescued, concealed for a
few days and then sent on to Canada where he died, at Kingston, in
1853.[31]
A more tragic incident was that known as the Gorsuch case. A slaver
named Gorsuch, with his son and some others, all armed, came to
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in search of two fugitives. In a house two
miles from Lancaster was a Negro family named Parker and they were
besieged by the Gorsuchs. The Negroes blew a horn and brought others
to their help. Two Quakers who were present were called upon to render
help in arresting the Negroes, as they were required to do under the
Act, but they refused to aid. In the fighting that took place the
elder Gorsuch was killed and his son wounded. The Negroes escaped to
Canada where they spent the winter in Toronto and in the spring joined
the Elgin Association settlement at Buxton in Kent county.[32]
The Anthony Burns case attracted more attention than any other arising
in the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. Burns, who was a fugitive
from Virginia living in Boston, betrayed his hiding place in a letter
which fell into the hands of a southern slaver and was communicated to
a slave hunter. The slaver tried to coax Burns to go back to bondage
peaceably but failing in this he had him arrested and brought before a
commissioner who, on June 2, 1854, decided that Burns was a fugitive
and must be sent back to slavery. Boston showed its feelings on the
day that the Negro was removed from jail to be sent South. Stores were
closed and draped in black, bells tolled, and across State Street a
coffin was suspended bearing the legend THE DEATH OF LIBERTY. The
streets were crowded and a large military force, with a field piece in
front, furnished escort for the lone black. Hisses and cries of "
shame" came from the crowd as the procession passed. Burns was soon
released from bondage, Boston people and others subscribing to
purchase his liberty. He was brought North, educated and later entered
the ministry. For several years he was a missionary at St. Catharines,
Canada, and died there in the sixties.[33]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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