An Abolitionist Asks to be Excused from Serving on the Jury . — In the Supreme Court, New York, on Thursday, Mr. Oliver Johnson, the editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard, having been summoned as a juror in this Court, presented the following reasons for being excused from service, endorsed on the back of the summons: — ‘The within named party asks to be excused from the service to which he is herein summoned, on the ground that he is held by public opinion to be crazy, forasmuch as he is editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard, a paper which advocates the immediate abolition of slavery and dissolution of the American Union as a covenant with death and an agreement with hell. OLIVER JOHNSON Sept 18, 1860
Judge Leonard passed an order that Johnson should appear the next day. Upon his appearance, said Johnson was fined the sum of $25, for contempt of Court!
(Liberator, Oct. 12, 1860, pg 3)