February 28, 1851
Notice of a petition to Harvard asking that measures be taken to open the classes of the Schools of Theology, Medicine, Law, and Science, “to all persons, without distinctions of color.” Readers of the Liberator “will need no arguments to induce them to sign it.”
February 28, 1851
A letter from Francis Bishop, dated Dec 28, 1850, in Liverpool, gives assurance that the Crafts have arrived safely on board the Cambria…..”they are now beyond the reach of their pursuers.” “Can it be true, as the papers report, that President Fillmore has written to Dr. Collins, the husband of the person who impiously calls herself the owner of Mrs. Craft, stating that, if necessary, the whole force of the Union shall be put in operation to bring back the fugitives? If so, what a spectacle for the world! The Chief Magistrate of a great country threatening to use all of its resources to kidnap a poor, defenceless woman, and carry her off to slavery! O could degradation further go?”
February 28, 1851
Notice is given of the temporary suspension of Garrisons’ regular duties as editor, due to health. His case should not “excite serious alarm”, and the notice is made now to account for his failure “to fulfill his engagements in Central and Western New York.”
February 21, 1851
Elizur Wright (an editor of the Commonwealth), John Foye, a colored man, and James Scott, a colored man, were arrested on the charge of aiding the escape of Shadrach.
February 21, 1851
There differing accounts of the arrest, rescue, and flight of Shadrach. One is from the editor, one “chiefly from the ‘Commonwealth’”, and one a copy of the official deposition of the Deputy Marshall Patrick Riley, the arresting officer. They are essentially the same, with differing views of Commissioner George Curtis, (Garrison says Curtis is “the willing and pliant tool of the Slave Power, which is dragging this nation down to irretrievable ruin,”), and different numbers are given of the colored citizens who accompanied Shadrach from the Court, and some differences about the conduct of the rescue. There is agreement that a delay in the trial had been granted, from the day of arrest, Saturday, until Tuesday, allowing defendants of Shadrach time for preparing a defense. Defendants of Shadrach are listed as S.E. Sewall, Ellis Gray Loring, Charles List, Richard H. Dana, Robert H. Morris.
Garrison comments: “Thank God, Shadrach is free -and not only free, but safe! Under the banner of England, on the Canadian soil, he is now standing erect, redeemed and disenthralled, bidding a proud defiance to President Fillmore and his cabinet, though backed by the army and navy of the United States! Promulgate thy bloody edicts, O Nero who occupiest the Presidential Chair; they shall be laughed to scorn, and trampled in the dust!…”
Garrison’s account indicates that “a few of the officers may have been jostled, but no one was injured, no blow appears to have been given by the invading forces, no scar was made, no blood was drawn. It was as peaceful a rescue as was ever made in any case of physical interference.”
Deputy Marshal Riley’s account indicates that there was a struggle at the door, and “that the crowd of negroes finally succeeded in forcing the door wide open, rushed in in great numbers, overpowering all the officers, surrounded the negro, and he was finally forced by them through the doors, down the stairs, and out of the side door of the court house, and thence through the streets to the section where most of the negroes of the city reside, — that officers were dispatched in pursuit, but have not succeeded in finding his present abode.”
Deputy Marshall Riley’s deposition also includes: “That from the time of the first notice to the Mayor and City Marshal, immediately after the arrest, as heretofore stated, to the giving of this deposition, neither the Mayor nor the City Marshall has appeared, nor has a single officer under their direction appeared or aided in attempting to disperse the mob, or in keeping the peace; and that, in my opinion, it was the predetermined purpose of both not to do their duty in keeping the peace in an about their Court House; for the City Marshal , when requested by Henry S. Hallet, Esq., to disperse a similar mob, which had collected about the office of his father, a United States Commissioner, during the excitement of the ‘Crafts’ case, said that he had orders not to meddle in the matter, as I am informed by said Hallett, and that the City Marshal gave a similar answer to Watson Freeman, Esq., who asked him about the same time, why he did not disperse the mob, as I am informed by the said Freeman.”
The item from the Commonwealth includes a moment when Riley says to the crowd, “Gentlemen, we are ready to sell, if you have any propositions to make. I will give twenty-five dollars out of my own pocket to buy the man.’ We remarked, that if there was any selling, we hoped it would be of the fellows who were so ready as he to be sold to the kidnappers. He appeared offended at this remark, and said he only did what he was obliged to do though he thought no law could oblige a man to assist in such atrocious villany.” After this the account says that the Deputy Marshall ordered the crowd from the room.. The crowd then proceeded with the rescue.
February 14, 1851
Here is an item from the Annual Report of the Police Department of the City of Boston, January, 1851. “Its facts and statistics are admonitory and instructive, and the suggestions of the Marshal worthy of consideration, especially in regard to the prevention of crime. ‘Some persons think’, he says,’that increasing the Police would remedy this evil (vagrant children about the streets). They can do nothing more than to arrest them and carry them before the Courts.’ An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
February 7, 1851
Song sung by all at the twentieth anniversary Soiree:
I AM AN ABOLITIONIST
By Wm. Lloyd Garrison
Air – Auld Lang Syne
I am an Abolitionist
I glory in the name;
Though now by Slavery’s minions hissed,
And covered o’er with shame:
It is a spell of light and power -
The watchword of the free;
Who spurns it in the trial-hour,
A craven soul is he!
I am an Abolitionist!
Then urge me not to pause;
For joyfully do I enlist
In freedom’s sacred cause:
A nobler strife the world ne’er saw,
The enslaved to disenthral;
I am a soldier for the war,
Whatever may befall!
I am an Abolitionist!
Oppression’s deadly foe;
In God’s great strength will I resist,
And lay the monster low;
In God’s great name do I demand,
To all be freedom given,
That peace and joy may fill the land,
And songs go up to heaven!
I am an Abolitionist!
No threats shall awe my soul,
No perils cause me to desist,
No bribes my acts control;
A freeman will I live and die,
In sunshine and in shade,
And raise my voice for liberty,
Of naught on earth afraid.
January 31, 1851
Depending on a source in the Barnstable Patriot, and from the Journal, here is a brief article about “come-outers”: “Several of these poor deluded beings in Barnstable, whose actions we have before noticed, are now on trial in that town for an assault upon a constable when in the discharge of his duty…the poor creatures are insane, and can hardly be held responsible for their acts. ….the most fitting place for these unfortunate beings is in the Insane Hospital .”
The editor comments: “These ‘poor deluded beings’ are undoubtedly laboring under religious insanity. Though nick-named ‘Come-outers’, they have scouted the anti-slavery movement as a very carnal affair.”
January 31, 1851
Gold watch presented to Garrison; the inscription: “Presented by George Thompson, M.P., (On behalf of himself and others,) to William Lloyd Garrison, the intrepid and uncompromising friend of the slave, In commemoration of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Liberator, Boston, January 1st, 1851
January 24, 1851
Notice that the Mass. Senate has elected Charles Sumner to the U. S. Senate, with a term beginning on March 4th. He received 23 votes, three more than necessary for election.