History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 16

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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tion paper or go to a bloody grave, if need be, in contesting the right of free printing and free speech.

He left Philadelphia in July, 1838, and reached Illinois in September of the same year. He se- lected Hennepin, in Putnam County, on the Illi- nois River, as the place of publication of his pa- per. It was to appear under the sanction of the Illinois State Anti-Slavery Society, which owed its origin to the murder of Lovejoy. No town of any importance would tolerate the publication of an abolition paper. Perhaps no one would have ventured to ask it of Chicago or Peoria or Quincy or Springfield. After this arrangement had been partly consummated inducements were offered him to settle at Lowell, on the Vermil- lion River, about twenty miles from Hennepin. A traveler passing through this hamlet today and noticing its mild savor of decay would wonder at the selection of a town which had not even a postoffice for publishing a newspaper. But to a traveler in 1839 the solution would not be dif- ficult. Lowell might be termed a "boom" town at that day, as its name suggests. It had great expectations.

Perched high above the river, in a narrow belt of woods, beyond which lay an arm of the grand prairie, fair as the garden of the Lord, the site was an attractive one. At the foot of the long hill flows over a rocky floor of Trenton lime- stone. Here was a dam and stone flouring mill.

Others above and below were erected a little later. Here are wood, coal, limestone, sand, clay of superior quality, and water power along a stream of much picturesque beauty. It was on the line of travel between Chicago and Peoria. Lundy erected two small buildings, one for a dwelling and the other for a printing press. A part of the latter still remains.

The twins, Esther and Bejamin, were brought from Magnolia, where they had dwelt with an uncle, William Lewis, from early infancy, and after long years of wandering, he again had a home. Esther was his little housekeeper and Benjamin assisted at the press.

With the elastic cheerfulness so prominent in liis character, he was hopeful and happy. Town lots, an entry of government land, and the "Genius" were the beginnings of a new prosperi- ty. His paper was dated at Hennepin, printed at Lowell and mailed at Vermillionville, just across the river. He was beset with difficulties in securing a competent printer. John Lovejoy, a brother of the Alton Martyr, came to his aid and presently Zebina Eastman, who was not only a practical printer, but a man of unusual ability.

Four or five numbers had thus been issued, when, on August 22, 1839, the end came. Mrs. Wierman has preserved a letter written on the day before his death in which he requests her to care for the children for a short time, expect- ing soon to be better. The last number of his paper which on one page announced his tempor- ary illness, on another contained an obituary notice from the pen of Mr. Eastman, who con- ducted the paper after his death.

To establish the rank and recognition to which he is entitled, and his claim to perpetual remem- brance, let those who knew him best or have studied his life and times with the most critical attention, speak for him.

Turning to the chapter on the "Abolitionists and the Slavery Question" in the "Constitutional and Political History of the United States" by Dr. Von Holst, now of the University of Chi- cago, we read :

"The immediate precursor, and in a certain sense the father of the Abolitionists, was Ben- jamin Lundy, a Quaker, born in New Jersey. In Wheeling. West Virginia, where he learned the saddler's trade, he had ample opportunities to be- come acquainted with the horrors of slavery, as great cargoes of slaves frequently passed the place. Lundy has been endeavoring for some years to awaken an active interest among his neighbors in the hard lot of the slaves, when the Missouri question brought him to the resolve to consecrate his whole life to their cause. In 1821 he began to publish the 'Genius of Universal Emancipation,' which is to be considered the first abolition organ.

"The nineteenth century can scarcely point to another instance in which the command of Christ to leave all things and follow him was so liter- ally construed and followed. Lundy gave up his flourishing business, took leave of his wife and dearly beloved children, and began a restless, wandering life to arouse consciences everywhere to a deeper understanding of sin and curse of slavery.

"Benjamin Lundy deserves the high honor of ranking as the pioneer of direct and distinctive anti-slavery in America. Many who lived be- fore and contemporary with him were abolition- ists, but he was the first of our countrymen who devoted his life and all his powers to the cause of the slaves. Slight in frame and below the common height, unassuming in manner, and gen- tle in spirit, he gave to the cause of emancipation neither wealth, nor eloquence, nor lofty abilities, for he had them not ; but his courage, persever- ance, and devotion were unsurpassed, and these combined to render him a formidable though dis-

APPELLATE COURTHOUSE-OTTAWA.

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regarded if not despised antagonist to our na- tional crime."

His daughter, Mrs. Susan Weirman, lived with her son in Hope township, dying only a few years ago. Horace Greeley says of Benjamin Lundy's death : "Thus closed the record of one of the most heroic, devoted, unselfish, courageous lives that has ever been lived on this continent." The people of this county so highly honored by being able to call him one of her sons, will do well to ponder on this story of heroic struggle and rejoice that his prophecy came true long ago, "We shall assuredly triumph yet." His body rests in Clear Creek Cemetery, in Putnam County.

THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY.

Mr. Lundy's efforts in the '30s were not without fruits in this new country. In almost every settlement there were men who sympa- thized with the cause and regarded the institution of slavery as a blot on the fair face of the coun- try. They recognized that it was intrenched be- hind the constitution and the laws and yet in a free country they recognized the law against the wrong as above and more binding than any law of the land. When the law of the land con- flicted with the law of conscience, they hesitated not but chose the line of duty, ready to suffer for so doing.

They looked upon the fugitive slave law as an outrage upon the consciences of the people and felt it their duty to resist the same, though the constituted authorities might imprison them, they felt no disgrace in suffering for conscience sake.

These men were banded together to give every possible assistance to the fleeing slave. Lowell, Troy Grove, Ottawa, Freedom and Fall River were stations on the underground railway. Here the fleeing slaves were hidden away during the daytime and as long as officers were near and then at night were taken to the next friend who in turn hid him, or carried him on to the next. As a reward was offered for the apprehension of a fugitive, there were those in every community who for the sake of the reward would help to catch the fugitive.

At Troy Grove the house of William A. Hic- kok and Ansen Dewey were stations. In Otta- wa the Hossack home sometimes harbored as many as fifteen at one time. In Fall River town- ship, A. W. Ebersol, W. R. Lewis and John Powers, in Freedom J. H. Henderson, Rev. Gould and Rev. Batcheler, on the Fox River be- low Millington Mr. Russel gave assistance.

This was serious business in which these earn-

est men engaged, yet it was relieved with its humor. Rev. A. Ethridge, now living at Mar- seilles, was the pastor of a church at Lowell and it was known that no man of color would be turned away from the good preacher's door. The wags in the village rigged up one of their num- ber in a becoming costume and blacked his face. He was received with great kindness. After telling his story, that he and his sisters were fleeing from the blood hounds, he asked for something to eat that they might press on toward freedom. While he went to get his sisters the meal was prepared, but-was not eaten by the fugitives.

Mr. Hickok at Troy Grove had harbored a negro, though watched he got his man off safely. But to give him a better chance to get away he kept up the pretence of hiding someone. The reward hunters watched him closely. To have a little sport at their expense, he hitched up his team to a wagon, put in a little hay, under which however was a neighborhood joker named Can- non. As soon as Hickok started some of the watchers spread the news and soon half a dozen horsemen were in pursuit. Hickok whipped up his horses until he was overtaken and a parley ensued. As soon as the horsemen were dis- mounted to capture the negro under the hay, he whipped up again. This was kept up for about five miles, when he decided to allow a search of the wagon. It was then Mr. Cannon arose out of the hay and offered to shake hands with his neighbors and invite them to ride as they seemed to be going his way.

THE BERKLEY CASE.

One of the cases that caused much excitement in Ottawa was that of a negro named Berkley. He was not a slave, but had lived in this county a number of years. He and a white man named Aaron Daniels started for Pike's Peak to try their hand at gold mining. While traveling through Missouri, Daniels suggested that the negro pass as his slave as this would insure greater safety. Near St. Joseph it became noised about that he was not a slave, but a free negro without papers. For this he was arrested and

placed in jail. Not being able to pay the fine, he was sold and sent to St. Louis. There he was sold to a slave trader who started down the Mis- sissippi with him. Near Memphis he and an- other negro escaped from the boat and made their way north, arriving in Ottawa in October, 1859. The runaway slave was sent over the un- derground railway but Berkley remained in Ottawa.

Two police officers from St. Louis made their appearance. It was not known that they were after

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the negro Berkley, but it was suspected that they were. On October 17th a meeting was called to devise means to protect the negro. Rich- ard Thorne was made chairman and H. Hunter secretary. Speeches were made by Judge E. S. Leland, L. B. Delano and others. The meeting was adjourned until evening when Messrs. Bas- sett. O. C. Gray, J. A. Glover, W. Cogswell and James Stout made speeches and a collection was taken up for the negro. Messrs. King, Leland, Bassett and Delano drew up resolutions which were adopted. These are here given to show the point of view of the anti-slavery people of that time.

"Resolved, That we still hold it to be a self- evident truth that all men are endowed by their Creator with inalienable right of liberty.

"That in the spirit and letter of language of Jefferson 'the people in mass are inherently in- dependent of all but moral law,' and that this is the only absolutely true theory of popular sovereignty.

"That the fugitive slave law is a tyrannic vio- lation of the inherent rights of American citizens ; that its provisions are insulting, inhuman, anti- Christian, anti-American, and consequently can impose no moral obligations of obedience.

"That the people in their sovereign capacity are the divinely constituted and legitimately author- ized guardians of human rights within such ter- ritory as they providentially occupy, and conse- quently that it is not only the natural right, but the positive and imperious moral duty of the people in mass, to effectually resist any attempt to deprive a human being of his natural right of personal liberty.

"That the moral sense of this community is shocked and their feelings outraged and dis- gusted at any attempt on the part of certain kidnappers from the South, with the co-operation of a few mercenary individuals in this city, to abduct from our midst an intelligent and worthy young man not charged nor suspected of any crimes or offense, for the purpose of inflicting upon him the untold horrors of chattel slavery.

"That the right of our fellow-citizen, Berkley, to liberty being alienable, the kidnapping and sale of him in Missouri for jail fees conferred no title to his purchaser which we recognize as valid, and that having escaped from those who sought unjustly to deprive him of such right, and returned to his home among us, we will en- deavor to the best of our ability to protect him in staying at home as long as he desires to do so : or if he prefers to reside under a monarchial government, or in any other place where his rights of freedom can be better protected, we will assist in changing his location."

JIM GRAY.

Just at this time, October 19, 1859, when ex- . citement ran high, another negro was brought to Ottawa.

On September 4th three negro slaves made their escape from their master, Richard Phillips, near New Madrid. Missouri. One of them, Jim Gray, was caught in Union County, Illinois, and placed in jail by the state authorities. As there was no law permitting the arrest of a fugitive slave by the state, a Mr. Root applied for a writ of habeas corpus, but the judge would not grant it. He boarded the train and came to Ottawa and applied to Judge Caton, a member of the Supreme Court. The writ was granted and Mr. Root went back and served it on the sheriff of Union County. Being in sympathy with the pro- slavery people, he at first refused to obey, but in time he concluded it was best to obey the Supreme Court.

The sheriff sent the prisoner northward in the custody of his jailer. I. N. Albright. On the way to Ottawa the party was overtaken by the owner of the slave and the negro demanded on a writ obtained from the United States Com- missioner at Springfield. The jailer did not know what to do. He did not want to resist the United States and yet he wished to obey the Supreme Court of Illinois. He was helped out of his difficulty by the United States Marshal deputizing him as a United States Marshal. Thus he held the negro under both writs.

The negro was brought before Judge Caton who set him free from arrest by the state. But he was still under arrest held by the deputy United States Marshal and was now to be taken before the United States Commissioner at Springfield and tried under the United States Fugitive slave act.

The flame that had been kindled by the Berk- ley case seems to have grown into a conflagra- tion two days after when Jim Gray was tried. E. S. Leland, Burton C. Cook, O. C. Gray and J. A. Glover, the greatest lawyers in the city, volunteered their services to defend the negro, while Julius Avery prosecuted the case. But the law was all on one side. The judge could decide in no other way. He ordered the negro to be taken before the United States Commissioner, but in so doing he seems to have been conscious that mob law might be put in operation. For he took occasion to remark that he believed he lived in a law abiding community. So be- lieving, he had the negro brought to Ottawa for trial. Should any attempt be made to set the law at defiance he would not again try a case of that kind in Ottawa.

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While the legal talent was doing its utmost for the negro in court, the anti-slavery people were busy outside to a much better purpose. Their plans were well formed and were in the hands of those who could be relied upon. When the judge had announced his decision, James Stout, a lawyer and Abolitionist, jumped upon a bench and called out: "Gentlemen, I move that this meeting resolve itself into a committee to carry out the law." The marshal started for the door, the negro going ahead, the marshal holding him by the arm. The people who purposely stood in the aisle spread apart making a free passage to the door. Several men grabbed the marshal's arm and released the negro. John Hossack grabbed the negro and dragged him through the aisle to the door. The crowd closed in behind him, thus effectually blockading the way of the marshal. They rushed through the courthouse to the back door. Beyond the fence in the street was a carriage in waiting. The negro jumped the fence, was helped into the car- riage. Charley Campbell was on the seat and applied the whip. But Pete Meyer thought to block the game, grabbing one of the horse's bridle, he nearly upset the carriage. But when John Hossack approached him with a clenched fist, he let go. Away the horse sped, up La Salle street, Superior street, across the aqueduct bridge into the country, four miles, where another team was in readiness. At short intervals each driver was relieved and thus Jim Gray got to Canada.

TRIAL OF THE ABOLITIONISTS.

As we read about it in our day it sounds grand and heroic. But the plain fact is, that this was mob violence. The puny arm of a few citizens was raised against the majesty of the law of the United States. They claimed that the law of human rights was above the law of even the United States. After events vindicated this claim, but this vindication cost a million lives and orphaned a million children and spread deso- lation and sorrow over the whole land. Not all the people were in sympathy with these men. The other side is well set forth in the Free Trader of October 22, 1859:

"Three events have occurred during the past week, two in our city, and one at a distance, of which the details are given in our columns and to which we refer as appropriate illustrations of the position which we would enforce; that is, that the 'irrepressible conflict' of Abe Lincoln, Governor Seward and the Republican party means open defiance of the law and authority of the government of the United States and ulti- mate revolution.

"The first event or occurrence to which we refer is the affair of the negro Berkley, and the proceedings of the meeting to which it gave rise. The facts of the Berkley case are given else- where and need not be reiterated. It is indisput- able, we presume, that he was from his birth as he is still, a free man, and so far as concerns the expressed purpose of the meetings in ques- tion not to permit him to be kidnapped by un- principled slave dealers, to which, under a sham sale for illegal costs, obtained the color of a claim to his person, we heartily concur in all the meeting said and did. But the resolutions which were foisted upon the meeting are a

very different affair. Instead of con- fining these to the subject at hand, their authors availed themselves of the factitious excitement of the occasion to ob- tain the sanction of doctrines from which we believe a large majority of our people in their sober moments would revolt. The expression of Thomas Jefferson, referring to the great unorganized body of people, that they are the foundation of all political authority in the gov- erninent, and are thus 'independent of all ex- cept moral law', are preverted into a justification of open defiance of all law by any mob which for the nonce and in any contracted locality may happen to be sufficiently in the majority to overawe opposition. Proceeding on this assump- tion the resolutions appropriately and con- sistently, in the things believed, declare that a fugitive slave law can impose no obligation of obedience in a community where its provisions are against the moral sense of the people. We have here then, palpably presented the cloven foot of the 'irrepressible conflict'-the doctrine that the states in this Union must be made free, although this must necessarily involve the overthrow of the consti- tution and the laws of this government, on the ground that their provisions are against the moral sense of the mob that assails us.

"The next event of the week was the affair of negro Jim, brought here from Union County, and held on a writ, under the fugitive slave law. The forcible capture of the negro from the offi- cial who had him in his legal and rightful pos- session, is admitted on all hands to have been an open and law-defying act, justifiable solely on the ground of the 'irrepressible conflict' doc- trine, that all laws sanctioning the holding of slaves are to be trampled under foot until the governments of this Union and the constitutions of all the Southern states are revolutionized or abrogated."

Deputy marshal came to Ottawa to make the arrests. Eight persons had been indicted by the

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United States grand jury. But two of them had left for parts unknown. Six calmly awaited the process of the law. John Hossack, Dr. Joseph Stout, Claudius B. King, James Stout, Hervey King and E. W. Chamberlin were taken into cus- tody. While waiting for the train for Chicago, a great crowd gathered at the depot. Burton C. Cook, Bronson Murry, Rev. G. W. Bassett and others made speeches which showed the prisoners that at home their friends did not look upon them as criminals. Feeling themselves martyrs to the cause of human rights, they refused bail. The joy of martydom, animated them, they gloried in their suffering. 'They were taken to the debt- ors department of the county jail in Chicago. That there was such a department makes us think this all happened a long time ago. But in the state of feeling at that time, the authori- ties did not want them to pose as martyrs and were more anxious to set them free from prison than the parties were to be at liberty.

On February 29th the trial began. John Hos- sack's case was called first. Burton C. Cook, Isaac N. Arnold, Jo Knox and Messrs. Larned and Goodwin were the lawyers for the defense, District Attorney Fitch and Judge Arrington for the prosecution, Judge Drummond was on the bench.

Mr. Hossack's trial lasted seven days, includ- ing three days consumed in the arguments of the counsel. He was found guilty, was fined $100 and sentenced to ten days in jail. The trial of Dr. Joseph Stout lasted six days but the jury disagreed. In April he was tried a second time and sentenced $100 fine and ten days in jail. James Stout's trial lasted one day. He was acquitted. Claudius B. King was allowed to plead guilty to avoid trial. He was fined $10 and sentenced to jail for one day.

The prosecution was thoroughly sick of the whole affair, for the trial attracted great atten- tion throughout the whole country and every day recruited thousands to the anti-slavery cause. They wished to be rid of the tartars whom they had caught. The fines were made as light as possible to prevent greater sympathy for the ac- cused. The expenses of the trial for the defense were contributed by the sympathizing public. The country was just entering on the political campaign in which the slavery question would be the issue. John Brown's raid had taken place two days before the release of Jim Gray. John Brown was hanged in Virginia in the previous December. The government had a bad mess on its hands and was very glad to get rid of it.

While John Hossack and James Stout served their sentence of ten days in jail, they were the heroes of Chicago. These were not days of

suffering but days of banqueting. Hon. John Wentworth, the mayor, and other leading citizens took them riding and to banquet halls. Mrs. Foltz, the jailor's wife, was the only guard. She always accompanied them. Afterward John Hossack was nominated for governor by the Abo- lition party.

John Hossack's address to the court in reply to its question, "Has the prisoner anything to say why he should not be sentenced?" is a remark- able production coming from a plain, unlettered citizen. It shows the power of a great idea taking possession of a man when his heart beats sympathetically for his fellowmen oppressed. Its reading for generations to come will make better citizens :

SPEECH OF JOHN HOSSACK,

BEFORE JUDGE DRUMMOND, OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, AT CHICAGO, UPON THE CON- VICATION OF VIOLATING THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.

May It Please the Court :

I have a few words to say why sentence should not be pronounced against me. I am found guilty of a violation of the fugitive slave law, and it may appear strange to your Honor that I have no sense of guilt. I came, sir, from the tyranny of the Old World when but a lad, landed upon the American shores, having left my kindred and native land in pursuit of some place where men of toil would not be crushed by the property- holding class. Commencing the struggle of life at the tender age of twelve years, a stranger in a strange land, having to earn my bread by the sweat of my brow, your Honor will bear with me, unaccustomed as I am to appear in courts, much less to address them. I have feared that I might fail in bearing myself on this occasion worthy of the place and the position I occupy, and the great principles involved in the case be- fore you. I say to your Honor, therefore, if I fail in observing the usual forms of the place it will be from a want of judgment and error of the head and not of the heart. Therefore, I do not think I shall fare worse at the hands of your Honor if I state plainly my views and feelings on the great question of the age-the rights of man. I feel that it is a case that will be referred to long after you and I have gone to meet the great Judge of all the earth.

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 16

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855 Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286