CHAPTER IV
THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT IN MARION COUNTY
The " Underground Railroad"--Joseph Morris--Allen McNeal--Hon. Thomas J. Anderson --Memorable Trial of Black Bill--the Riot Following the Trial--Contempt of Court-- Indictments Returned-Editorial Comment on the afflair--Sweetser's Memorial Review of the Events.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
For 20 years prior to the Civil War many of the citizens of Marion County lost no opportunity to ally themselves with any anti-slavery movement. Ordinarily this sentiment found expression in the many successful efforts that were made secretly to conduct negro slaves from the Southern States to Canada. Between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes would were many abolitionists who gave shelter and assistance to escaping slaves, and their homes were known as stations of the "Underground Railroad." Among the noted patrons of this underground system were William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. Several underground routes ran through Marion County. Joseph Morris, in Richland township, Allen McNeal, in Tully township, and Judge Thomas J. Anderson, of Marion, each conducted a station on the route. The method of operation was to receive the escaping slave into their home, conceal him during the day and at night carry him to the next station. Sometimes it was necessary to conceal the slave for several days at a time, but usually he was kept for but one day.
Stations were established at convenient intervals and conductors were ready to assist the fugitive in his flight. The evasion of the slave hunters by throwing them on the wrong scent the thrilling escapes, the "knock at the door," and the dark figures ushered into the attic to await an opportune time for renewing the flight, the low strange whisperings of those engaged in this secret work, are still remembered by those who, as children, observed and listened to these strange operations, most of which will never be revealed.
A brief sketch of each of the three characters mentioned above will not be inappropriate here.
JOSEPH MORRIS
Was born in Burlington County, New Jersey, June 23, 1804. His father and mother were members of the Society of Friends. When he was 18 years old he, with his parents, moved to Columbiana County, Ohio. In 1828 he married Jane Warrington, whose parents were also members of the Society of Friends. About 1837 he came with his family to Richland township, Marion County, and settled in an unbroken forest in the northeast portion of the township, on the edge of the Quaker
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settlement in Morrow County. During the Civil War, and for ten years thereafter, he traveled through the South, and later in the West, spending his time and money in deeds of charity and in distributing tracts, books, food and clothing among the Indian tribes. He was a determined anti-slavery man and abolitionist, and his dwelling was the principal station on the "Underground Railroad" in this county. Here, in the basement or attic of his two-story frame dwelling, many runaway slaves found a sure retreat on their way to Canada. It is said that the basement and attic were connected by small apartments ingeniously subdivided so cunningly devised and fashioned that strangers failed to detect the plot and contrivances that shielded the cowering fugitives." There was, it is said, an underground passage and tunnels leading to the corn crib, and another to the barn, so that no slave hunter ever was able to discover a slave, if the fugitive once passed the portals of this place of refuge.
Mr. Morris wrote a book entitled, Reminiscences of Joseph Morris, being a brief history of the life and labors of charity of the author, which was published in 1881. After his death, which occurred September 6, 1898, his executor carried out the provisions of his will by publishing a revised edition of the work.
ALLEN McNEAL
Was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, June 17, 1809. He came with his parents to Tully township, Morrow County, in 1827. He was of Scotch-Irish stock and displayed the marked characteristics of his people in the strong, vigorous, determined and logical mind for which he was noted. He was an abolitionist, and was noted throughout this section of the State for his determined opposition to slavery. At first he was a Whig, then a Free Soiler, and became a Republican upon the organization of that party. He was at one time the Abolition candidate for Congress and made speeches against the evils of slavery, when it was dangerous to express one's opinions on that subject. He practiced, too, what he professed, by keeping a station on the "Underground Railroad." He took a deep interest in educational and religious matters, being one of the founders of Ohio Central College at Iberia. He died at Iberia July 1, 1883.
HON. THOMAS J. ANDERSON
Was born in Hampshire County, Virginia, April 2, 1801, and died at Pleasant Hill, Missouri, January 27, 1871. He was a son of Capt. James Anderson, a soldier of the Revolution. In April, 1806, the Anderson's removed to Lancaster, Ohio. He married Nancy Dunlevy in August, 1825, and in December following arrived in Marion. He began at first to buy and sell live-stock, finding the best market at Detroit. Later he became an extensive buyer of furs. Politically he was a Whig, religiously, a Methodist. On February 11, 1834, he was commissioned by Governor Lucas, associate judge of Marion County, for a term of seven years. He was reappointed in 1841 and 1848. Judge Anderson was justice of the peace for a time and afterwards United States deputy collector of internal revenue for Marion County. He held other offices and appointments of trust. While he never received a liberal education, yet he wrote considerable, communicating with men of prominence in Church and State. He was a rugged, consistent character, whose influence for right was felt in this community. His son, James H. Anderson, was prosecuting attorney of this county and mayor of Marion before the war and is now one of the substantial citizens of Columbus, Ohio.
MEMORABLE TRIAL OF BLACK BILL.
The most intense and celebrated trial that ever took place in Marion County was one involving the liberty of Black Bill, alias Mitchell, alias Anderson, an alleged slave. Black Bill, as he was commonly called, came to Marion in the fall of 1838, and by his industry as a butcher, barber and laborer, and by his ability to play the fiddle and banjo and "call" at dances, soon made himself indispensable in the thriving little village.
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About the middle of July, 1839, a party of eight citizens from Kanawha Court House, Kanawha County, Virginia, appeared in Marion and claimed Black Bill as the runaway slave of Adnah Van Bibber, of Kanawha, alleging that he had escaped about two years before. He was arrested under an Ohio statute as a "fugitive from service or labor" on a warrant issued by John Bartram, a justice of the peace, and when brought before Hon. Ozias Bowen, presiding judge of the Common Pleas Court, was committed to jail to await trial at the August term of court. Of course the proceedings soon became the talk of the town and Black Bill, who called himself a "free nigger," had many sympathizers, who thought that he was unjustly accused.
The case came on for trial on August 26, 1839 before Ozias Bowen, presiding judge, and Thomas J. Anderson and George Gray, associate judges. The court-room of the old Court House was crowded to overflowing, the excited crowd filling all the halls, staircases and adjoining rooms. Adnah Van Bibber, the claimant, Robert W. McClanahan, his agent, William F. Goshorn, Robert Anderson, Mr. Smith, Mr. Kline, Mr. Bowers and Mr. Lawrence, all Virginians, came to Marion as witnesses against Black Bill and to assist Van Bibber to recover the negro These slave hunters, as they were called, came fully armed with bowie-knives and pistols which they brandished and flourished in a threatening way, to intimidate the friends of Black Bill.
The title of the ease was "Adnah Van Bibber vs. Mitchell (a colored man)." The plaintiff was represented by Gen. George Rowe of the Marion bar, who was a bold and forceful speaker. Black Bill was defended by two young members of the Marion bar, Cooper K. Watson, then prosecutor and afterward Congressman, and James H. Godman, an attorney of unusual ability. Most of the witnesses were against Black Bill, and the negro under the laws, was not permitted to testify even in his own cause. The trial was not long, and after the eloquent appeal of the attorneys the court at the close of the day's session, reserved its decision until the following day.
Charles Sweetser, a prominent attorney from Delaware, Ohio, arrived in Marion in the evening of August 26th for the purpose of attending the regular term of the Common Pleas Court, which convened the next day. He stopped at the same tavern where the Virginians had taken lodgings, and was soon after retained to assist General Rowe in the further conduct of the case.
THE RIOT FOLLOWING THE TRIAL.
The following editorial from the Marion Visitor a newspapers published in Marion at the time, recites as an eye witness the events of the eventful 27th day of August, 1839:--
"Tuesday evening last (August 27th) presented a scene of confusion and excitement never before witnessed in our peaceful village. It appears (as our readers will discover below) that a negro well known to our citizens by the name of Bill, was some time since taken up as a runaway slave from Virginia, and lodged in the jail of this county for trial. On Monday, the day set for his trial, we discovered an unusual number of persons assembled to hear the result. The house was crowded to overflowing. The witnesses were examined, whose testimony will be found below, and counsel heard. The judge however reserved his decision (written opinion) till the following morning. A great mass of people assembled. At 10 o'clock A. M., the court was called (the house was literally crowded) to hear the decision of the judge which occupied at least 40 minutes in delivering, during which the greatest order prevailed, but as soon as the Hon. O. Bowen had finished, by declaring the prisoner free, all was confusion, riot and disorder. As soon as the decision was ended, the pretended owners seized the prisoner; the bystanders resisted, and endeavored to rescue him, declaring him to be free, and desiring them to let him run at large. But the Virginians still maintained their possession by force, and presented pistols, bowie-knives, dirks, etc., threatening the lives of all those who would lay hands on them, or the negro--and all this in open court. Our citizens, and friends from the country, stood
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out in defense of their trampled and insulted laws, which were thus set at defiance.
"In this scene of confusion, taken down stairs, and dragged by his captors through the streets. Those who forced him onward were armed with pistols, and daggers. At this unusual sight, the populace became enraged, and attacked them with stones, and whatever missiles they could get hold of. They (the Virginians) at length succeeded in getting him into one of our justice's offices (the office of John Bartram J. P.), and there guarded him as stated for a new trial. Before the door of the office, the excited multitude assembled demanding justice and the negro, but all of no avail. The entrance was guarded with with pistols and bowie-knives. At this time the sheriff arrived and begged to be heard, and requested the mob to disperse but this also was as of no effect. At length a cry for the public arms was heard, the arsenal was broken open and the arms obtained, which presented a horrible spectacle: The excited populace under arms still demanded entrance, which was refused. All the orders of the sheriff and the court to restore order seemed to be of no effect. Pistols and bowie-knives were all the law.
"At length one of the associate judges-- Judge Anderson--left the bench and in defiance of cocked pistols, and flashing steel, forced his way into the office, after which others followed, and burst open the back door by which means the negro made his escape. He had run but a short distance when he was as overtaken by one of his pursuers, who presented a pistol and threatened to shoot him if he did not stop. At this time a number of the enraged multitude fell upon the pursuer and knocked him down Another who came to his assistance shared the same fate. This confusion continued till orders were given to arrest the rioters. During the arrest of the rioters the negro made his escape and has not since been heard of.
"In order to give our readers an idea of the spirit that prevailed we quote one of the threats thrown out by one of the rioters: 'By the living God in heaven I'll shoot that fellow.' We would further remark that the rioters (we believe eight in number) were the same day arrested and recognized to appear from day to day under bonds of $600 each. Were we to go into detail of all the particulars at this time it would occupy at least two or three columns of this week's paper. We have therefore concluded to await the further result of the court, and present the whole in-its proper light. In conclusion we are happy to state that no lives were lost though several persons were wounded
"We hope the gentlemen from the South will return to their native State, fully satisfied that we have a court of justice in the town of Marion, Ohio and a people who are able and willing to sustain it; and that a band of armed assailants are not able to trample upon our laws with impunity.
"We cannot pass over without reminding our readers, and the public, that the above transaction was not an abolition, or anti-abolition fracas. A large portion of our citizens who were engaged in it are not only not abolitionists, but strongly opposed to abolition principles. It was not the freedom of the negro that was contended for; it was the law of our country that we saw resisted, and defiance bid to with deadly weapons, and an apparent reckless disregard of human life. May those guilty of the outrage receive summary punishment; we think the lesson would be salutary."
Justice Bartram's office was located, at the time of the riot, on the west side of North Main street, where the Neidig restaurant now is, being just across the alley from Byerly's Tavern, which was located on the site of the Harvey-Breen Block. North Main street had just recently been improved with broken limestone and thus afforded an abundance of material for the enraged populace to use in the assault on the Virginians.
The testimony at the trial showed that Black Bill had once been owned by John Lewis, a cousin of the plaintiff Adnah Van Bibber, and the court held that Van Bibber had failed to prove ownership. As soon as the court had discharged the defendant from custody, Attorney Sweetser announced "May it please the court; my client now intends to arrest the ne-
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PAGE 66 PICTURES OF HON. THOMAS J. ANDERSON, JOSEPH MORRIS, ALLEN MCNEAL, STATION ON THE ÜNDERGROUND RAILROAD, ÖLD WYATT RESIDENCE IN WALDO TOWNSHIP AND JOSEPH MORRIS HOME IN RICHLAND TOWNSHIP.
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gro as the property of John Lewis, of Kanawha, Virginia, take him before John Bartram of this place, a justice of the peace,
and there under a well-known act of Congress seek a full, fair and impartial investigation and adjudication of the case.
James H. Anderson, in his admirable life and letters of his father Thomas J. Anderson says that "Black Bill spent the first night in a swamp near Marion whence he made his way to the house of Reuben Benedict, a Quaker (who resided on a farm in the eastern part of Marion, near Morrow County), where he was secreted in Reuben's garret. His next stopping place was a Quaker settlement two miles north of Fredericktown his next, another Quaker settlement at Greenwich Huron County his next, the town of Oberlin from which place he was escorted to Canada.
CONTEMPT OF COURT.
On the same clay, August 27, 1839, the court caused the arrest of the Southerners and their attorneys as shown by the journal of the court of the same date, which recites that:
"A very serious noise and disturbance having taken place this day in open court and the court having repeatedly called to order, and the noise and disturbance still increasing and continuing and a great contempt being perpetrated in open court and in the presence thereof, the court ordered the sheriff to arrest instantly and bring before them those persons who were in open court committing open contempt to the great hinderance of the aclministration of justice, and thereupon the sheriff of this county under the direction aforesaid seized and brought into court here the following persons by him returned as guilty of a great disturbance and noise in court and for assaults and batteries and various contempts by them perpetrated and perpetrating in open court, towit: R. W. McClanahan, Adnah Van Bibber, Wm. F. Goshorn Wm. Lynn, J. P. Lawrence, Seth Kline, Francis Bower John Bartram and Charles Sweetser. Ordered by the court that the charges be forthwith committed to writing by the prosecuting attorney of this county that a copy thereof if required be given to each of the above named persons returned and that they for present stand committed."
Each of the parties arrested gave bond in the sum of $600 and was released except Adnah Van Bibber and Francis Bower. Van Bibber, who was the first of the party arrested, was committed to jail for only a few hours but Bower, was not released until September 3, 1839 The charge of contempt as drawn by Cooper K. Watson, prosecuting attorney, charged Robert W. Clanahan, Adnah Van Bibber, William F. Goshorn, John P. Lawrence, Seth Kline, Francis Bowers, and Charles Sweetser with contempt of court in this, that they, on the 27th day of August, 1839 while the Court of Common Pleas was in session and immediately upon Ozias Bowen president judge delivering his opinion in the matter of Adnah Van Bibber against Mitchell alias William Anderson a black man, directing the sheriff to discharge and release said Mitchell in open court did with force and arms and in contempt of the authority and dignity of said court resist the sheriff and take and retain said black man Mitchell and also did at the same time enter- and surround the said court with dangerous offensive weapons, towit: dirks, knives and loaded pistols for the purpose of resisting and preventing the discharge and liberation of the said Mitchell alias William Anderson the black man in pursuance of the order of said court; and also did in the presents of the court make a great noise and contension and conducted and behaved themselves in a riotous and noisy manner to the great hindrance of the said court in the transaction of its business and the administration of justice
Interrogatories were also filed in court by Prosecutor Watson calling upon the parties held for contempt to state whether there was any understanding or agreement among defendants to aid assist and support each other in arresting said negro man, Attorney Sweetser was asked if he advised the arrest of the negro in the Court House and in the presence of the court
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In his answer Sweetser says that he was advised that the decision of the court would be rendered at 8 o'clock in morning before the convening of the court, and accordingly advised his clients that if the black man were released, that they had the right punctually to take possession of their property even in the presence of the court, and that the tumult that ensued was not chargeable upon their shoulders, but to the mob that was collected expressly to rescue the negro at all hazards. He further says that he thinks his clients did right, but did not intend directly or indirectly to entrench upon the court or disobey its order.
Robert W. Clanahan filed a lengthy answer which sets out fully the events that transpired He says, "that after the case had been submitted and on the evening of the 26th day of August, 1839, he with his friends were advised that there would be a collection of individuals on the next morning at the time His Honor was to deliver his opinion in the case, and if the court decided the case in favor of Van Bibber that Mitchell would he rescued from the claimant by force. He was further advised that the opinion of His Honor would be against Van Bibber, and, from suggestions made he was induced to call upon his counsel, Mr. Rowe and Mr. Sweetser, to ascertain their professional opinion in regard to the right of claimant to institute and set up a claim under the law of Congress, inasmuch as the decision of His Honor would be made under a recent statute of Ohio, and whether the proceedings under the statute would operate as a bar to any subsequent proceedings under the act of Congress, and after a full investigation counsel advised the Virginians. that they had the undoubted right to set up a claim under the law of Congress, which authorized owners of slaves to seize upon the fugitives from service and labor, and take them before some judge or justice, without any process whatever, and that the law of Ohio gave to claimants only an accumulative remedy in such cases. In pursuance of this opinion, notice was given to Esq. Bartram that the fugitive would probably be brought before him for a trial under the law of Congress, the object of the notice being to prepare the mind of the justice against surprise. Counsel advised that they would give notice to His Honor and defendant's counsel of their intention publicly upon the decision of the judge being given, and that after such notice, they would be justified in taking possession of and arresting Mitchell for the purpose of carrying him before Esq. Bartram. In pursuance of this advice and after notice had been given by Mr. Sweetser and Mr. Rowe, and after Mitchell had been discharged by the court he
(McClanahan) took possession of Mitchell in the court-room in the presence of the court, peaceably, as he supposed, and immediately upon the capture of Mitchell, there was a great rush on the part of the vast crowd then and there accumulated and Mitchell was seized by individuals unknown to him and he persisted and succeeded in taking Mitchell to the office of Esq. Bartram and while there was assailed by a great many persons unknown to him and Mitchell was rescued from said office and his custody. While he was in pursuit of Mitchell upon the street, he was assaulted and knocked down and arrested by some person or persons, whether officers he could not say, and was got to the court however so." He says that he had upon his person a pistol which was loaded, which the circumstances that surrounded him admonished as necessary for the protection of his person and his rights, and that he had been induced to wear the pistol from the fact, that from information and surrounding circumstances he had many reasons to believe that a mob was organized to liberate Mitchell at all hazards. Under the circumstances he felt justified in carrying the pistol for his protection. Counsel had cautioned the whole party not to make an unlawful use of any weapons. He did not, as he truly believed, make any unjustifiable use of his pistol. He closes with the hope that he may be fully justified and excused by the court.
On September 6, 1839, Goshorn, Kline, Van Bibber, and Sweetser were found guilty of contempt and each fined $15 and costs and the fine was remitted on payment of costs, which for all four of the cases amounted to only $4.40.
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INDICTMENTS.
At the time of the disturbance, the grand jury was in session and on August 28, 1839, returned indictments against Adnah Van Bibber, Seth Kline, Robert W. McClanahan William F. Goshorn and Charles Sweetser for resisting and abusing Joseph Durfee as sheriff of the county. George Rowe would as indicted for assault and battery. Sweetser was tried before Judge Bowen to a jury of talesmen on December 5, 1839. The jury retired about 7 o'clock P. M. and remained in their rooms until the next day at 3 o'clock P. M., when they were brought into court on its own motion and discharged from further consideration of the case. George Rowe was tried to a jury on March 24, 1840, and acquitted. The other indictments were finally nolled.
EDITORIAL COMMENT ON THE AFFAIR.
This affair was given a wide circulation throughout the nation, both Northern and Southern papers commenting editorially upon it. Robert W. McClanahan, one of the Virginians, had a lengthy defense of his conduct published in the Richmond Whig dated "Kanawha, October 26 1839." It was headed,. "The Abolition Riot at Marion. Audi altram partem." In his opening paragraph he says: "Messrs. Editors:--A libelous and abusive paragraph, copied from the Marion (Ohio) Visitor has been taking the rounds of the newspapers of the United States, which irnperatively demands from me some notice. had the article referred to appeared only in the Marion Visitor, it would not have been deemed worthy of attention, but the circulation which its calumnious statements have received in so many quarters where the real facts of the case are unknown, accompanied, too, in many instances, with very objectionable remarks by the editors republishing the original article, renders it necessary that the whole affair should be exposed, and the public, whose indignation has been so loudly challenged, placed in possession of the facts upon which to found its opinion."
He then proceeds to tell of the arrival of the Virginians in Marion and the trial of the case, alleging that, having learned that the decision would be against Van Bibber, he had before the meeting of the court, by his attorney, General Rowe, informed Judge Anderson of his intention to carry the negro before Justice Bartram under an act of Congress. The judge promised to exert himself to prevent any disturbance or interruption by the crowd.
"In pursuance of the arrangement, as soon as the decision of the court was pronounced, my attomey rose and stated to the court that I was now about to proceed against the negro as the property of John Lewis, and that for that purpose I intended to take him to the office of the justice of the peace for trial. After the attorney made his statement, I caught hold of the negro without noise or disturbance. Immediately there would as a rush from every part of the Court House, which was crowded, to the negro. Several persons unknown to me seized the negro and told him to leap over the back of the box and make his escape. At the same instant I was seized by two persons, who have since said that they were officers of the court, and ordered by the court to arrest me for contempt. In spite of their efforts I retained my hold of the negro until I received two severe blows from a third person, the last of which brought me to the floor. When I arose I found that the negro had left the court house. I released myself from the persons who had hold of me, and who had torn my clothes very much, forced my way through the crowd into the street, and saw the negro in the custody of my friends, some 50 or 60 yards distant in the direction of Mr. Bartram's office, the justice of the peace before whom we intended to take him; the crowd, about 150 or 200 persons, all the while hurling at them stones, sticks, etc. I soon got hold of the negro and with the assistance of my friends (seven in number) succeeded in getting him into the justice's office. It was not until we were in the street and surrounded by an infuriated mob that any of our party drew their weapons, and only four of us were armed in any manner.
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"After we succeeded, as before stated, in lodging the negro within the office of the justice of the peace, the mob demanded admittance which we of course refused, and prevented them from entering by threatening to punish those who should attempt to force an entrance. The justice of the peace would who was in the office appeared at the door and used every means of persuasion to restore quiet and order, pledging his word and honor that the negro should not be carried off except by due course of law; but all without effect.
"While this was going on at the office, a Mr. Spelman, a student of law, and leader of the abolitionists, forced the door of the arsenal and seized upon the public arms. About 20 persons presented themselves before the door of the office with fixed bayonets and demanded entrance. But this bustling argument was as unsuccessful as the volleys of missiles with which we had been assailed.
"About this time, Judge Anderson, heretofore mentioned, made his appearance and demanded admission, but received from Mr. Kline the same answer which he had given to all previous applications, viz., that 'he would shoot any person who should attempt to enter the door.' I, supposing that Judge Anderson had come in pursuance of his promise to General Rowe that morning, for the purpose of maintaining the law and restoring quiet, and believing that his presence in the office would tend to compose and satisfy the mob, requested Mr. Kline to admit him. But on account of the noise that gentleman did not hear me. I then Caught hold of Mr. Kline, and pulled him from the door, while Mr. Robert Anderson of this county, taking hold of Judge Anderson's hand, drew him in. The crowd attempted to follow, which drew the attention of Mr. Kline and myself from Judge Anderson and the negro and while we were engaged in beating the mob back, Judge Anderson, as I have since been informed directed the man in charge of the negro to let him go; then assisted in opening, the back door and turned the.negro into the street.
"When I found the negro had gone I no longer resisted the entrance of the mob, but immediately started in pursuit, and had come so near to the negro as to raise my hand to take hold of him, when I received a blow on the temple from a brickbat which brought me to the ground. When I arose, the foremost of the mob had reached me. Him I seized and knocked down with my pistol, but in falling he pulled me after him. A second one then jumped on me, when my good friend Mr. Kline came to my rescue, leveled one of them, and was in turn knocked down himself. We were both raised from the ground by the sheriff who marched us to the Court House. Mr. Van Bibber and Mr. Goshorn had been arrested previously, and Mr. V. was taken to jail. A short time afterwards the sheriff arrested Mr. Anderson of Kanawha, M r. Bartram the justice, and Mr. Sweetser, my attorney. We were then bound in recognizance of $600 each to appear from day to day, and detained seven days. The grand jury, then in session, found bills of indictment against Messrs. Kline, Van Bibber, Goshorn, Sweetser and myself, which are still pending. The negro of course has not since been heard of by his owner or any of us."
A number of partisan papers in this State took up the affair and correspondents of the papers contributed many articles touching the slave case, all of them more or less abusive of Judges Bowen and Anderson, and Prosecutor Watson. One of these correspondents in particular, under the nom de plume "Oquanoxa," assailed Watson in the Ohio State Bulletin, a Columbus daily of which Sam Medary was editor. William Walker, of Upper Sandusky, a half-blood Wyandot Indian, afterwards avowed himself the author, but it was generally believed that Attorney Sweetser contributed the letters. In his communications, dated November 12, 1839 Prosecutor Watson was accused of influencing the grand jury to bring in indictments against the Southerners and their attorneys. He was accused of being "backed and hissed on by two judges (Bowen and Anderson) whose supple tool he is." Sweetser was held up as a martyr, who had been subjected to vexatious arrests, and
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had received at hands "nothing but gross personal abuse, nothing but the effusions of the coarsest vulgarity that his addled brain and morbid imagination could conjure up, or personal enmity could invent: this, too. in Open court while conducting the prosecution. A trial was had at the December term (1839) of the Court of Common Pleas for Marion County in this case, on which occasion this redoubtable prosecutor distinguished him self by words of official superogation, determed to immolate his victim upon the altar of personal malevolence, and notwithstanding all his log-rolling, browbeating, and lecturing of the jury empaneled to try the cause, they refused to bring in a verdict of guilty (not being able to agree upon one), and were discharged. The cause is still pending. and the party oppressed has been compelled to appeal to the Legislature, by preferring articles of impeacllnlent against the two judges. and to true that 'even-handed justice' will be meted out to these two high functionaries."
SWEETSER'S MEMORIAL.
As indicated in the correspondence of "Oquanoxa," Charles Sweetser preferred charges against Ozias Bowcn and Thomas J. Anderson in the form of a lengthy memorial addressed to the House of Representatives, in which he charged "that Ozias Bowen, president judge of the Second Judicial Circuit of Ohio, and Thomas J. Anderson one of the associate judges of Marion County, did corruptly confederate with others, to release said negro Bill from his lawful owners: that they prostituted their offices, usurped authority, and trampled upon the rights of their fellow-citizens in the accomplishment of their object." This memorial was presented by Andrew H. Patterson, member of the House from Delaware County, on December 21, 1839, and referred to the standing committee on the judiciary, which on February 4, 1840, reported "that if any portion of the allegations made by the memorialist against the persons implicated be well founded (and there appears no reason to doubt their truth), the said judges have acted indiscreetly in the discharge of their official duties. But inasmuch as the alleged misconduct grew out of a controversy which always produces excitement in the mind of man, and was perhaps rather owing to a want of prudence at the time shall to malice, or a premeditated disposition to do wrong, your committee, in the hope that the conduct complained of will not be repeated, recommend the adoption of the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the committee on the judiciary be discharged from the further consideration of said memorial.' "
It is just to Judges Bowen and Anderson to state that they were both Whigs. Charles Sweetser was a Democrat as was also the legislature and the committee which made this report. At the time of this occurence both Whig and Democratic parties wished to avoid any agitation of the slavery question. Likewise the politicians and newspapers of the North were, as a general rule, careful not to say or publish anything that would create anti-slavery feeling, especially as this was on the very eve of a presidential campaign
REVIEW OF THE EVENTS
The citizens of Marion, who participated in this affair, were not abolitionists. They were, strictly speaking-, pro-slavery and anti-slavery in their beliefs. The agitation extended to members of both the Democratic and Whig parties. Partisans of each party were to be found arrayed on both sides of this all absorbing, question, which for 20 years was the only real political issue, though dusguised and suppressed at every opportunity by the party leaders. Each year brought its new phase of the question, but no event ever occurred in Central Ohio, so fraught with national consequences, as this trial and riot growing out of the attempted capture of a fugitive negro slave. Wars have been fought and kingdoms overturned for less important events than this, and but for the approaching presidential campaign and the temerity of the national political leaders, the Civil War might have been hastened several years by this premature outbreak. In
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Ohio it served to draw the lines more closely on the slavery issue and led in 1856 to the nomination and election of Judge Bowen to the supreme bench by the Republican party. The part he took in the proceedings at once stamped him as a pioneer in the anti-slavery movement. Likewise Cooper K. Watson, in 1854, and Charles Sweetser as a pro-slavery Democrat in 1848 and 1850, were elected to Congress from the 9th and 10th congressional districts, respectively.
The author is indebted for much of the information used in this chapter to the full and, in general, accurate account of the trial of Black Bill to be found in the "Life and Letters of Thomas J. Anderson," by his son, James H. Anderson.