Record Data
Transcription
Daring Abduction of Negroes.
One of the most outrageous cases of kidnapping ever done in this county, occurred on Friday night last, in Dickinson township. A colored man named Butler, his wife and two children, residing near Weakley’s Saw mill, were captured between the hours of 9 and 10 o’clock, P. M., by parties unknown, and forcibly carried off. A carriage track was [found?] leading to the house and from thence to Papertown [Mount Holly Springs], where it was lost. Late in the evening, a carriage, supposed to be the same, forced its way through the Holly toll-gate. The secrecy with which the affair was conducted, leaves little room to doubt but that the parties were well acquainted with both the neighborhood and their nefarious business. Although the cabin from which the abduction took place is in a thickly settled spot, some four or five families of whites being within a stone’s throw, not the slightest alarm was raised, and the fact was not discovered till the next day, when the house was found entirely deserted; the articles of clothing strewn about, the half rumpled bed of the little girl, and bread left to rise on the hearth, showing that this outrage had been perpetrated in the most sudden and precipitate manner. The Butler family came into this county from Adams about a year ago, and are highly esteemed by their neighbors for sobriety, industry and general good conduct.
