FIRST WORDS. . THE digest of the testimony in Mr. Bushnell's case was made during the progress of the trial, and with such care that it is believed it will be found more accurate and comprehensive than any hitherto published. The arguments of Messrs. Riddle, Spalding, Griswold, Backus, and Wolcott were reported phonographically, and are published with the sanction of their authors. Every effort was made to secure equally full and accurate reports of the arguments of the counsel for the Government, but, unfortunately, without success. For such use as has been made of the materials of others, it has been endeavored to accord due acknowledgment elsewhere, save that it remains to mention here the kind offices of Mr. J. H. Kagi, of Mr. J. M. Greene, and of one whose modesty forbids, the mention of her name. To Mr. Greene, the reader is indebted for the stereoscopic view which is found engraved upon the title-page. The materials with which the writer has wrought, have been superabundant. Much that seemed scarcely less important than the rest, and at first none less, has been necessarily omitted. Necessarily, lest the general reader should feel burdened. To the people of Ohio, it is believed that every link of this remarkable chain of events has surpassing significance and interest. But, lest it may not be so abroad, the best judgment of the compiler has been taxed to omit nothing essential, while accepting nothing trivial. If others would have chosen more wisely, no one can regret more sincerely than himself that their counsel was not seasonably at his command. Such typographical errors as may have escaped notice in the proofs, the reader is asked to be patient with, in consideration of the urgency with which the work has been pressed; the last page being in type within eight days after the Reception of Mr. Bushnell. QUIETSIDE, Oberlin, July 20, 1859. (viii) HISTORY OF THE OBERLIN-WELLINGTON RESCUE. CHAPTER FIRST. THE modest village of WELLINGTON, which of late seems to have had greatness — or, better, perhaps, notoriety thrust upon it, is by no means a locality of pretentious claims. It is a plain, thriving village, in a flourishing and populous township of the same name, and lies upon the Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Rail Road, thirty-six miles south-west of the city first named. It is, therefore, within the bounds of that part of Northern Ohio widely known as the "Connecticut Western Reserve," which was first settled some forty-five or fifty years ago by the representatives of Puritan New England, and has ever since been noted for the characteristics of the men who founded and shaped its social, political, and religious insti tutions. THE RESCUE has been variously called, in different prints, "The Oberlin Rescue,” “The Wellington Rescue," and "The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue." It is sufficient to remark, that the alleged fugitive was a resident of Oberlin, was arrested near home, and taken to Wellington, whence, with the aid of friends, he is said to have made his escape. These friends were from Oberlin as well as from Wellington, and very naturally, perhaps, the Oberlin friends were the more active in his behalf. But since the locality of THE RESCUE was Wellington, it seems natural, without entering into any comparative analysis of the assistance contributed by the citizens of either place to the release of our hero, to denominate it, as for the purposes of this volume we shall," THE OBERLIN-WELLINGTON RESCUE." Before ushering the reader into the labyrinthical mazes of this necessarily multitudinous volume, benevolence would seem to dictate an outline sketch of the ground which is so dis OBERLIN is a village of some 3,000 permanent inhabitants, to which, for nine months in the year, may be added 800 students, who seek the advantages afforded in the various departments, academic, collegiate, and theological, of OBERLIN COLLEGE. It lies upon the South-connectedly and repetitiously beaten by the ern Division of the Cleveland and Toledo Rail Road, nine miles due north of Wellington, and thirty-three miles nearly west of Cleveland. Both these communities are within the county of Lorain, of which the village of Elyria, sixteen miles distant from Wellington and eight from Oberlin, is the county seat. thousand feet of witnesses, counsel, court, and compiler, in the progress of these pages. Know, then, gentle reader, that some time in the month of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, we are told that a negro slave, called John, about eighteen years of age, was missing from the plantation of Mr. John G. Bacon, a citizen of stay at the Russia House, and the colored peo ton, a gentleman-farmer, whose residency is some three miles north of the College. As the result of a visit extending from Saturday evening to Sabbath evening, a son of this Mr. Boynton, aged thirteen years, and bearing rez less a name than that of the Bard of Avoš was engaged for a stipulated price to deco John into a ride out of town the next day, and at a specified place to deliver him into the bosom of his old friends, who had so long sought him sorrowing. the northern part of Mason county, Kentucky. ple having become alarmed for their personal Late in August, 1858, Mr. Anderson Jennings, safety, by an attempt only a few days before to a neighbor and personal friend of this bereaved kidnap at midnight an entire family, Mr. Jenplanter, taking a northerly tour in pursuit of nings and his party, as he tells us, were advised some escaped chattels belonging to his uncle's by their landlord and other sympatizing estate, to which he sustained the relation of an friends, that an attempt at arrest with oblige administrator, stopped a few days in Oberlin, bounds of the village might not impossit as and while there became possessed of information attended with difficulties, and perhaps fail of! which induced him to write at once to his friend complete success. Inquiry for "a man whom Bacon that the long lost John was undoubtedly a fellow could put confidence in," to quote the in Oberlin, and that with the assistance of a gentleman's own affecting words, introduced witness and the authority of a power of attor-him to the acquaintance of Mr. Lewis D. Boynney, the writer would quite likely be able to capture and return him to the domestic hearth. Omitting intervening details, let it suffice to say that on Wednesday the eighth of September following, Mr. Jennings found the wish of his neighborly heart gratified, by pressing the hand of Richard P. Mitchell, a gentleman whom he had known as an employee of Mr. Bacon, and receiving at his hand a document purporting to be a duly drawn and certified power of attorney, authorizing Anderson Jennings to capture and return to the State of Kentucky, one negro slave called John, who, owing service to John G. Bacon in said State, had unlawfully, knowingly, and willingly escaped therefrom-together with the assurance that he, Mr. Mitchell, could identify the truant beyond the possibility of mistake. To make assurance doubly sure, Mr. Jennings next day took the cars for Columbus, possibly not being aware that he was travelling The successful posse, with their prisoner, took from one judicial district into another, and ob- a road which passed at a safe distance to the tained a warrant from one Sterne Chittenden of cast of Oberlin toward Wellington, where in that place, who certifies himself to be a U. S. Com- due time they arrived, and took quarters at the missioner, and authorized by an act of Congress hospitable house of one Wadsworth, at that approved Sept. 18, 1850, to issue such war- time the proprietor of the Wadsworth House. rants, commanding the U. S. Marshal, or Young Shakespeare, returning from the place any deputy U. S. Marshal of the Southern of capture to the Russia House, hastened to reDistrict of Ohio, to apprehend, etc., the boy lieve Mr. Jennings's painful anxieties, and was John; which warrant was intrusted for execu-rewarded with twice the promised fee. Making tion to Jacob K. Lowe, who is said to be a deputy of the U. S. Marshal for the said Southern District. Mr. Lowe engaged the assistance of Samuel Davis, Esq., an acting Deputy-Sheriff of Franklin county, and the trio set out for Oberlin, where they arrived on the evening of Friday. The suspicions of the good people of Oberlin having been aroused by the strange conduct of Mr. Jennings during his previous protracted This plan, after a slight amendment, proved successful, and John was arrested on Monday, the 13th of September, at about 11 o'clock, A. M., some one and three fourths miles north-east of Oberlin, by Jacob K. Lowe, Richard P. Mitchell, and Samuel Davis; Mr. Jennings prudently declining to expose the head of the expedition to unnecessary peril. a hasty and slender meal, as we may well suppose, Mr. Jennings was soon being rapidly expressed toward Wellington, his affectionate heart overflowing with a tumult of the tenderest emotions at the prospect of once more embracing his long-lost sable friend, and speedily restoring him to home and happiness. But the ways of Providence are inscrutable. As Marshal Lowe and his party were entering Pittsfield on their way Wellington-ward, two fence unless made to prevent a seizure in the first instance, or a recaption in case of escape. Yet it is not necessary, to constitute an obstruction in the sense of the term used in the statute, that force or violence should be actually resort young men met them. These young men has-cer from executing his writ. To warrant the tened to Oberlin with a description of the party, charge, however, of unlawfully obstructing the and a few moments sufficing to ascertain that arrest of a fugitive from labor, some act of interference on the part of the person accused John was missing—that he had been last seen must be proved, tending to impair the right of driving toward New Oberlin with Shakespeare recaption secured by the statute. Mere obBoynton—that Shakespeare had returned with-struction, hinderance, or interruption is no ofout him—and that the Southerners had all left town—an intense excitement seems to have become manifest, and to have taken the shape of pursuing parties. A large crowd lingered about the hotel until late in the after-ed to, to defeat an arrest. The refusal to pernoon, and then suddenly dispersed. What happened and what did not happen inside this crowd and between it and the parties having John in custody, the reader must glean as best he can from the testimony. He will find much He will find much that is contradictory, some things impossible, some improbable, and some, we think, worthy of credit, there stated; all of which has with much care and labor been written out from the pose. witnesses' mouths for his eye, and is submitted to him as a member of that Great Jury, before which all prisoners are tried, and to which they look for condemnation or acquittal with far greater anxiety than to the twelve men who render the special verdict in Court. THE GRAND JURY. So flagrant a protection of the rights of a citizen of a Free State may well be supposed to have appealed in no uncertain tones to the powers that be- id est of course, the Federal Administration. The U. S. District and Circuit Court for the Northern District of Ohio straightway assembles a Grand Jury, and the Judge thereof breaks to them his woes in the following painful strains: mit an arrest on the premises of another, after "There are some who oppose the execution of this law from a declared sense of conscientious duty. There is, in fact, a sentiment prevalent in the community which arrogates to human conduct a standard of right above, and independent of, human laws; and it makes the CONSCIENCE of each individual in society the TEST of his own ACCOUNTABILITY to the laws of the land. "While those who cherish this dogma claim and enjoy the protection of the law for their own lives and property, they are unwilling that of the constitutional rights of others. It is a the law should be operative for the protection sentiment semi-religious in its development, and is almost invariably characterized by intolerance and bigotry. The LEADERS of those who acknowledge its obligations and advocate its sanctity are like the subtle prelates of the dark ages. They are versed in all they consider useful and sanctified learning — trained in cer"He remarked, that in consequence of oc- tain schools in New England to manage words, currences which had recently transpired in an they are equally successful in the social circle adjoining county, he had been requested by the to manage hearts; seldom superstitious themDistrict-Attorney to call the attention of the selves, yet skilled in practising upon the superJury to this act of Congress. He said this sec-stition and credulity of others FALSE, as it tion prohibits the obstruction of every species is natural a man should be whose dogmas imof process, legal or judicial, whether issued by pose upon all who are not saints according to a Court in session, or a Judge, or a United HIS CREED the necessity of being hypocrites — States Circuit Court Commissioner, acting in SELFISH, as it is natural a man should be who the due administration of this law of the United claims for himself the benefits of the law and States. It matters not whether the warrant is the right to violate it, thereby denying its probeing served by the United States Marshal tection to others more attached to his own himself, his deputies, or any one else lawfully peculiar theories of government than to his empowered to serve such writ. country, and constantly striving to guide the politics of the nation with a view of overthrowing the Constitution and establishing instead a Utopian government, or rather no government at all, if based on the Federal Union. "The offence of obstructing process does not necessarily consist of acts of rude violence. It may consist in refusing to give up possession, or opposing, or obstructing the execution of the writ by threats of violence, which it is in his power to enforce, and thus preventing the offi "Gentlemen, this sentiment should find no place or favor in the Grand-Jury room. Its tendency leads to the subversion of all law, of Oberlin. To this, polite assent was given, and a consequent insecurity of all the constitu- and the two set out for the purpose. Fifteen tional rights of the citizen. The Fugitive Slave Law may, and unquestionably does, contain of the twenty-one sought were found, and arprovisions repugnant to the moral sense of many rested. The Marshal protesting that he felt as good and conscientious people. Nevertheless, safe with the word as with the bond of any it is the law of the United States, and as such one of them, and that he wished to go on to should be recognized and executed by our Courts and Juries until abrogated or otherwise changed by the legislative department of the Government. Ours is a government of laws, and it is by virtue of the law that you and I, and every other citizen, whether residing north or south of the Ohio River, enjoys protection for his life and security for his property." Wellington without delay, they would oblige him by remaining at their places of business as usual until the morning train next day, when they might set out alone for Cleveland, where he would await them in the depôt, — it was unanimously decided, after consultation, to do so, and Mr. Johnson departed in peace. At Wellington, having no Prof. Peck to assist him, he succeeded in finding only a few individuals, and obtained from such as he found but qualified promises of voluntary appearance. Con-, tent with such success as he met, however, he took the evening train homeward, as empty handed as he came. The occurrences of the day following are accurately detailed by the correspondent of the New York Tribune: STARTING FOR COURT. At 10:42 this forenoon, fifteen of the twenty-one residents of Oberlin for whom warrants were issued left the Oberlin station, amid the shouts and huzzas of a large crowd of ladies and gentlemen who had A considerable assembled to see them off. number of the most prominent men of the village, including Mayor Beecher, volunteered to accompany the prisoners and see them comfortably quartered or safely returned. Marshal Johnson was in waiting as they left the cars, and pointing the prisoners to omnibuses bound for the Bennett House, directed them to take good care of themselves and be ready for a call at 2 o'clock. After dinner, the Hon. R. P. Spalding, the Hon. A. G. Riddle, and S. O. Griswold, Esq., who had volunteered their services for the defence, free of charge, were called in for consultation. Soon after 2 o'clock, the parties proceeded to the court-room. THE TRIAL BEGUN.- The MARSHAL read the names of the persons upon whom he had served processes at Oberlin, with the number of the bills in which their names severally stood. Judge SPALDING, acting for the defence, entered a plea of Not Guilty, in behalf of all. Those who responded were as follows: Name. Plea Not Guilty. 95 Aiding & Abetting. Not Guilty. |