An Abolitionist Caught in Vicksburg
“We have caught’, says the Vicksburg Sentinel of the last inst, ‘one of the Cincinnati villains of the Abolition school, in the act of carrying off two he and one she negro, and he will get his deserts before we have done with him. His name is L.R. Lawrence, alias John Smith. He came here three weeks since, as a preacher, and through the vigilance of that most active, indefatigable and valuable citizen, Mr. Porterfield, of the firm of Porterfield & Co, the scoundrel was detected and caught, after a race of two or three squares. One of the men and the woman belong to Governor Lynch, and the other man belongs to a Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, who has been in this State for five years. The thief has been saved from the indignation of the people, and confined in jail under a penalty of ten thousand dollars. When Mr. Porterfield detected the villain, he was on board a boat with the negroes, ready to start for Cincinnati.
(Liberator, Feb 25, 1842, pg 1)
