The Underground Railroad
approach excited in families, wholly innocent of the charges
laid against them."
On the other hand, a few extracts from the editorials of some of the
leading papers, will suffice to show the state of public feeling at that
time, and the dreadful opposition abolitionists and fugitives had to
contend with.
From one of the leading daily journals of Philadelphia, we copy as
follows:
"There can be no difference of opinion concerning the shocking
affair which occurred at Christiana, on Thursday, the resisting
of a law of Congress by a band of armed negroes, whereby the
majesty of the Government was defied and life taken in one and
the same act. There is something more than a mere ordinary,
something more than even a murderous, riot in all this. It is an
act of insurrection, we might, considering the peculiar class
and condition of the guilty parties, almost call it a servile
insurrection--if not also one of treason. Fifty, eighty, or a
hundred persons, whether white or black, who are deliberately in
arms for the purpose of resisting the law, even the law for the
recovery of fugitive slaves, are in the attitude of levying war
against the United States; and doubly heavy becomes the crime of
murder in such a case, and doubly serious the accountability of
all who have any connection with the act as advisers,
suggesters, countenancers, or accessories in any way whatever."
In those days, the paper from which this extract is taken, represented
the Whig party and the more moderate and respectable class of citizens.
The following is an extract from a leading democratic organ of
Philadelphia:
"We will not, however, insult the reader by arguing that which
has not been heretofore doubted, and which is not doubted now,
by ten honest men in the State, and that is that the
abolitionists are implicated in the Christiana murder. All the
ascertained facts go to show that they were the real, if not the
chief instigators. White men are known to harbor fugitives, in
the neighborhood of Christiana, and these white men are known to
be abolitionists, known to be opposed to the Fugitive Slave Law,
and _known_ to be the warm friends of William F. Johnston,
(Governor of the State of Pennsylvania). And, as if to clinch
the argument, no less than three white men are now in the
Lancaster prison, and were arrested as accomplices in the
dreadful affair on the morning of the eleventh. And one of these
white men was committed on a charge of high treason, on Saturday
last, by United States Commissioner Ingraham."
Another daily paper of opposite politics thus spake:
"The unwarrantable outrage committed last week, at Christiana,
Lancaster county, is a foul stain upon the fair name and fame of
our State. We are pleased to see that the officers of the
Federal and State Governments are upon the tracks of those who
were engaged in the riot, and that several arrests have been
made.
We do not wish to see the poor misled blacks who participated in
the affair, suffer to any great extent, for they were but tools.
The men who are really chargeable with treason against the
United States Government, and with the death of Mr. Gorsuch, an
estimable citizen of Maryland, are unquestionably _white_, with
hearts black enough to incite them to the commission of any
crime equal in atrocity to that committed in Lancaster county.
Pennsylvania has now but one course to pursue, and that is to
aid, and warmly aid, the United States in bringing to condign
punishment, every man engaged in the riot. She owes it to
herself and to the Union. Let her in this resolve, be just and
fearless."
From a leading neutral daily paper the following is taken: "One would
suppose from the advice of forcible resistance, so familiarly given by
the abolitionists, that they are quite unaware that there is any such
crime as treason recognized by the Constitution, or punished with death
by the laws of the United States. We would remind them, that not only is
there such a crime, but that there is a solemn decision of the Supreme
Court, that all who are concerned in a conspiracy which ripens into
treason, whether present or absent from the scene of actual violence,
are involved in the same liabilities as the immediate actors. If they
engage in the conspiracy and stimulate the treason, they may keep their
bodies from the affray without saving their necks from a halter.
It would be very much to the advantage of society, if an example could
be made of some of these persistent agitators, who excite the ignorant
and reckless to treasonable violence, from which they themselves shrink,
but who are, not only in morals, but in law, equally guilty and equally
amenable to punishment with the victims of their inflammatory counsels."
A number of the most influential citizens represented the occurrence to
the Governor as follows:
"To the Governor of Pennsylvania:
The undersigned, citizens of Pennsylvania, respectfully
represent:
That citizens of a neighboring State have been cruelly
assassinated by a band of armed outlaws at a place not more than
three hours' journey distant from the seat of Government and
from the commercial metropolis of the State:
That this insurrectionary movement in one of the most populous
parts of the State has been so far successful as to overawe the
local ministers of justice and paralyze the power of the law:
That your memorialists are not aware that 'any military force'
has been sent to the seat of insurrection, or that the civil
authority has been strengthened by the adoption of any measures
suited to the momentous crisis.
They, therefore, respectfully request the chief executive
magistrate of Pennsylvania to take into consideration the
necessity of vindicating the outraged laws, and sustaining the
dignity of the Commonwealth on this important and melancholy
occasion."
Under this high pressure of public excitement, threatening and alarm
breathed so freely on every hand, that fugitive slaves and their friends
in this region of Pennsylvania at least, were compelled to pass through
an hour of dreadful darkness--an ordeal extremely trying. The
authorities of the United States, as well as the authorities of the
State of Pennsylvania and Maryland, were diligently making arrests
wherever a suspected party could be found, who happened to belong in the
neighborhood of Christiana.
In a very short time the following persons were in custody: J. Castner
Hanaway, Elijah Lewis, Joseph Scarlett, Samuel Kendig, Henry Spins,
George Williams, Charles Hunter, Wilson Jones, Francis Harkins, Benjamin
Thomson, William Brown (No. 1), William Brown (No. 2), John Halliday,
Elizabeth Mosey, John Morgan, Joseph Berry, John Norton, Denis Smith,
Harvey Scott, Susan Clark, Tansy Brown, Eliza Brown, Eliza Parker,
Hannah Pinckney, Robert Johnson, Miller Thompson, Isaiah Clark, and
Jonathan Black.
These were not all, but sufficed for a beginning; at least it made an
interesting entertainment for the first day's examination; and although
there were two or three non-resistant Quakers, and a number of poor
defenceless colored women among those thus taken as prisoners, still it
seemed utterly impossible for the exasperated defenders of Slavery to
divest themselves of the idea, that this heroic deed, in self-defence,
on the part of men who felt that their liberties were in danger, was
anything less than actually levying war against the United States.
Accordingly, therefore, the hearing gravely took place at Lancaster. On
the side of the Commonwealth, the following distinguished counsel
appeared on examination: Hon. John L. Thompson, District Attorney; Wm.
B. Faulney, Esq.; Thos. E. Franklin, Esq., Attorney-General of Lancaster
county; George L. Ashmead, Esq., of Philadelphia, representative of the
United States authorities; and Hon. Robert Brent, Attorney-General of
Maryland.
For the defence--Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, Reah Frazer, Messrs. Ford,
Cline, and Dickey, Esquires.
From a report of the first day's hearing we copy a short extract, as
follows:
"The excitement at Christiana, during yesterday, was very great.
Several hundred persons were present, and the deepest feeling
was manifested against the perpetrators of the outrage. At two
o'clock yesterday afternoon, the United States Marshal, Mr.
Roberts, United States District Attorney, J.H. Ashmead, Esq.,
Mr. Commissioner Ingraham, and Recorder Lee, accompanied by the
United States Marines, returned to the city. Lieut. Johnson, and
officers Lewis S. Brest, Samuel Mitchell, Charles McCully,
Samuel Neff, Jacob Albright, Robert McEwen, and ---- Perkenpine,
by direction of the United States Marshal, had charge of the
following named prisoners, who were safely lodged in Moyamensing
prison, accompanied by the Marines:--Joseph Scarlett, (white),
William Brown, Ezekiel Thompson, Isaiah Clarkson, Daniel
Caulsberry, Benjamin Pendergrass, Elijah Clark, George W.H.
Scott, Miller Thompson, and Samuel Hanson, all colored. The last
three were placed in the debtors' apartment, and the others in
the criminal apartment of the Moyamensing prison to await their
trial for treason, &c."
In alluding to the second day's doings, the Philadelphia Ledger thus
represented matters at the field of battle:
"The intelligence received last evening, represents the country
for miles around, to be in as much excitement as at any time
since the horrible deed was committed. The officers sent there
at the instance of the proper authorities are making diligent
search in every direction, and securing every person against
whom the least suspicion is attached. The police force from this
city, amounting to about sixty men, are under the marshalship of
Lieut. Ellis. Just as the cars started east, in the afternoon,
five more prisoners who were secured at a place called the Welsh
Mountains, twelve miles distant, were brought into Christiana.
They were placed in custody until such time as a hearing will
take place."
Although the government had summoned its ablest legal talent and the
popular sentiment was as a hundred to one against William Parker and his
brave comrades who had made the slave-hunter "bite the dust," most nobly
did Thaddeus Stevens prove that he was not to be cowed, that he believed
in the stirring sentiment so much applauded by the American people,
"Give me liberty, or give me death," not only for the white man but for
all men. Thus standing upon such great and invulnerable principles, it
was soon discovered that one could chase a thousand, and two put ten
thousand to flight in latter as well as in former times.
At first even the friends of freedom thought that the killing of Gorsuch
was not only wrong, but unfortunate for the cause. Scarcely a week
passed, however, before the matter was looked upon in a far different
light, and it was pretty generally thought that, if the Lord had not a
direct hand in it, the cause of Freedom at least would be greatly
benefited thereby.
And just in proportion as the masses cried, Treason! Treason! the hosts
of freedom from one end of the land to the other were awakened to
sympathize with the slave. Thousands were soon aroused to show sympathy
who had hitherto been dormant. Hundreds visited the prisoners in their
cells to greet, cheer, and offer them aid and counsel in their hour of
sore trial.
The friends of freedom remained calm even while the pro-slavery party