Louisville (KY) Journal, "The Christiana Riot Trial for Misdemeanor," January 24, 1852

    Source citation
    "The Christiana Riot Trial for Misdemeanor," Louisville (KY) Journal, January 24, 1852, p. 3.
    Newspaper: Publication
    Louisville (KY) Journal
    Newspaper: Headline
    The Christiana Riot Trial for Misdemeanor
    Newspaper: Page(s)
    3
    Type
    Newspaper
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    Zak Rosenberg
    Transcription date
    The following text is presented here in complete form, as it originally appeared in print. Spelling and typographical errors have been preserved as in the original.

    THE CHRISTIANA RIOT TRIAL FOR MISDEMEANOR.- The trial of Samuel Williams, a colored man, for misdemeanor, growing out of the Christiana riots, was commenced before the U.S. District Court at Philadelphia, on Monday, the 12th inst., Judge Kane presiding. This is the first case under the Fugitive Slave law for obstructing the process of the United States by giving information to alleged fugitives from labor of their intended arrest. It involves the point whether a person can be made amenable to the penalties of the law, for what may be properly be called a constructive observance of it.

    The Jury have been empanneled, the was case opened by George L. Ashmead, U.S. District Attorney. He claimed, 1st. That the information given by the defendant constitutes in itself an aiding, abetting and assisting the fugitive to escape; and, 2d. That the facts, taken altogether, make the defendant as much a principal in the escape of the fugitive as any one who was present and took part in the transaction at Parker's house.

    How to Cite This Page: "Louisville (KY) Journal, "The Christiana Riot Trial for Misdemeanor," January 24, 1852," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/1835.