January 20, 1865
At a Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Masons meeting, a letter from Gov. Andrew to Hayden, is read. With the letter, the Gov. sends “a gavel made from a piece of the whipping-post at Hampton, Va….I also place in your hands, for the same purpose, a rude boat of straw, made in the woods by a poor refugee from slavery, Jack Flowers, ….I know of no place more fitting for the preservation of these memorials of the barbarous institution that is now tottering to its rapidly approaching fall, than the association of free colored persons of Massachusetts over which you preside….”
June 24, 1864
This article tells of a gathering at “the colored church of which Rev. Leonard Grimes is the pastor. They assembled to present Gov. Andrew with a portrait of himself. The portrait was done by Wm. H. Simpson, artist, and framed by Jacob Andrew, both young colored men, and “their joint work elicited deserved admiration.” William Wells Brown presided at the meeting, and the presentation was by William Cooper Nell. The presentation was a surprise to the Governor, who attended only because he had been invited, and knew nothing of the purpose.
(A longer account of this meeting appears in the July 1 edition.)
March 26, 1858
Almost two full pages are given to an address in the Masssachusetts House of Representatives, by John A. Andrew, “remonstrating against” the Dred Scott decision.
March 30, 1849
Under the title Shall He Be Hung?, here is an article about Washington Goode, a “colored man, a sailor, … under sentence of death”….noted is a petition to the Governor for the commutation of the sentence …signatures include Samuel May, Ellis Gray Loring, Wendell Phillips, H. I. Bowditch, James Freeman Clarke, J. A. Andrew. The signers claim that the evidence of his guilt is circumstantial, and of flimsy character…that many mistakes have been made, and they also make an appeal that “no good can spring from such an example” because he is “ignorant, friendless, degraded”.
