Richmond (VA) Dispatch, “Excitement in Ohio,” June 1, 1857

    Source citation
    "Excitement in Ohio," Richmond (VA) Dispatch, June 1, 1857, p. 4: 3.
    Original source
    Cincinnati (OH) Gazette
    Newspaper: Publication
    Richmond Daily Dispatch
    Newspaper: Headline
    Excitement in Ohio
    Newspaper: Page(s)
    4
    Newspaper: Column
    3
    Type
    Newspaper
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    Zak Rosenberg, Dickinson College
    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.

    EXCITEMENT IN OHIO- Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law.-There has been great excitement in Greene county, Ohio, in consequence of the arrest of four individuals, charged with aiding a slave to escape. The Cincinnati Gazette gives the following account of the case:

    "On Tuesday, United States Deputy Marshal Churchill, accompanied by eleven assistants, left this city for Mechanicsburg, Champaign county, Ohio, eleven miles from Urbana, having with him a warrant issued by Commissioner Newhall, for the arrest of Charles and Edward Taylor, brothers, Russel Hyde, and Hiram Guttridge, who, says the warrant did, about the 21st day of Aug. 1856, harbor and conceal one Add White, a person owing servise, and labor to Daniel G. White, of Flemingsburg, Ky., who had, pervious to said date, escaped into the State of Ohio, and was then a fugitive from such service and labor, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of the said Add. White. The offence charged, it will be observed, is not that the slave was aided in his escape from his master in Kentucky by the four accused persons,  but that they sheltered and protected him in Ohio; or, in other words, they "put him through" on the Underground Railroad. The penalty for the offence is a fine of a thousand dollars and imprisonment.

    On Wednesday morning, the Deputy Marhsal left Urbana with his posse, in hired carriages, and in Mechanicsburg, and in the neighborhood, succeeded in arresting the four accused individuals. While the arrest were in progress the most intense excitement were crested in the vicinity. The news spread rapidly and a determination was expressed to use every means the law provides to rescue the prisoners from the hands of the Border Ruffians, as the officers were called, whose sole object it was confidently, though erroneously, asserted, was to take them over to Kentucky and lynch them.

    A writ of habeas corpus was then procured from a Judge in Champlain county, and the Sheriff attempted to serve it; but before he could do so, the officers had conducted the prisoners beyond the bounds of the county. A second warrant was then procured in Clarke county. The Sheriff in this instance pursued and came up with the party, but they refused to obey the writ. The Sheriff not having force to compel obedience, they proceeded on their journey to this city. A third writ was then obtained in Greene county, and the Sheriff of that county, with his posse, served it upon the United States officers at 6 o'clock yesterday in Jamestown.

    The U States officers resented the act of the county officers in seizing their horses' reins before making known their business. A warm altercation ensued. The Sheriff and his men were assisted by an excited crowd of two or three hundred persons. Rifles and pistols were displayed. The Marshal and his men drew their weapons, and several shots were fired. Mr. Churchill discharged his revolver at the crowd, but no one was injured.

    The conflict was sharp and stubbon, but superior numbers prevailed, and the Deputy Marshal, with all his posse were made prisoners, and a despatch received yesterday afternoon stated that they, were to be sent last night to Springfield for trial.

    At Springfield, at one o'clock yesterday, Deputy Marshal Kiefer arrested Isaac Sargent on a similar charge to that made against the others, and brought him to this city, when he was held by Commissioner Newhall in $1,500 for examination next week.

    [By Telegraph]

    CINCINNATI, May 30.- The United States Marshal telegraphed to the Secretary of the Interior to-day for instructions regarding the arrest and imprisonment of the U. States officers, but the nature of the instructions received in reply has not yet transpired.

    Judge Leavitt, United States District Judge, issued a writ of habeas corpus to-day, and the Marshal has gone to Springfield to serve it. In case resistance is offered to it, it is reported that the United States troops will be called out.

    How to Cite This Page: "Richmond (VA) Dispatch, “Excitement in Ohio,” June 1, 1857," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/1351.