History of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue

Library of Congress History of the Oberlin-Wellington rescue HISTORY OF THE OBERLIN-WELLINGTON RESCUE. VIEW OF THE JAIL AT CLEVELAND, OHIO, WHERE THE PRISONERS WERE CONFINED. COMPILED BY JACOB R. SHIPHERD. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY PROF. HENRY E. PECK, AND HON. RALPH PLUMB. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY. CLEVELAND, OHIO: HENRY P. B. JEWETT. NEW YORK: SHELDON AND COMPANY. 1859. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 3 MAR 5 Copy 1959 CAMBRIDGE: ALLEN AND FARNHAM, ELECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS. 3 TO THE THIRTY-SEVEN INDICTED, and to all WHO WITH THEM BELIEVE IN THE DOCTRINES OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, This Volume IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, BY THE COMPILER. iv History of the Oberlin-Wellington rescue http://www.loc.gov/resource/llst.005 Library of Congress TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION vii FIRST WORDS ix HISTORY OF THE OBERLIN-WELLINGTON RESCUE 1 CHAPTER FIRST. Wellington—Oberlin—The Rescue—The Grand Jury—The Arrests—Appearance in Court — Cases continued—“The Felons' Feast”—The Arrest of Lincoln— Winsor's voluntary appearance—Cummings arrested—Six still at large—Cases continued from March to April —The “struck” jury 1–13 CHAPTER SECOND. Trial of Bushnell begun—Lowe arrested for kidnapping—The traverse jury—The indictment—The law—The Constitution—Testimony of Bacon; of Cochran; of Jennings.— Second Day—Jennings's testimony continued—Testimony of Bartholomew; of Halbert; of Wood.— Third Day—Testimony of Wheeler; of Mitchell; of Irish; of Farr; of Meacham; of D. L. Wadsworth; of Bennett.— Fourth Day—Testimony of Bennett continued—Testimony of Kinney; of Marks; of Wack; of O. S. Wadsworth; of Worden; of Whitney—Bacon recalled — Prosecution rest—Witnesses for the defence—L. D. Boynton; Shakespeare Boynton. — Fifth Day—Testimony of Prof. Peck; of Plumb; of Fitch; of Dickson; of Patton.— Sixth Day—Patton's testimony continued—An officer of the Court on the jury—Testimony of Howk; of Butler; of Cox; of Weed; of Pelton; of Brokaw; of Elliott; of Beecher; of Bunce; of Johnson; of Wall— Defence rest.— Seventh Day—Prosecution resume the examination of witnesses—Wood recalled—Testimony of Gaston—Worden recalled—Testimony of History of the Oberlin-Wellington rescue http://www.loc.gov/resource/llst.005 Library of Congress E. A. Munson; of E. P. Dodge—Marks recalled—Mitchell recalled—Jennings recalled— Testimony of Pierce; of H. Dodge; of Kellogg; of Dewey; of E. F. Munson; of J. S. Dodge —Wack recalled— Testimony closed—Argument of Judge Bliss—Argument of Mr. Riddle —Argument of Judge Spalding—Argument of District-Attorney Belden—Judge Willson's charge to the jury—Special charges— The Verdict—The “struck” jury to try each of the Thirty-seven— Twenty ordered to jail for taking exceptions to such a jury—Inside view of prison life—Prof. Peck's Sermon—“A Voice from the Jug”—Why they were sent to jail 13– 94 CHAPTER THIRD. Introductory—Trial of Langston begun—The Journal entry of April 15th, and the discussion upon it—The order for Bushnell's commitment—A new jury ordered; Court of a new opinion—The new jury—The Indictment—Testimony of Bacon.— Second Day—Testimony of Bacon continued—Testimony of Cochran; of Jennings.— Third Day—Testimony of Jennings continued—Testimony of Mitchell—The kidnappers protected by the Federal authorities—Testimony of Wack; of Ells; v of Wood.— Fourth Day—Testimony of Wood continued—Testimony of Worden; of Kelley; of Wheeler.— Fifth Day—Testimony of Wheeler continued—Testimony of C. Wadsworth; of E. S. Lyman; of Gaston— Kidnapping of Bushnell—Testimony of Halbert—The first application for a writ of Habeas Corpus— Arguments pro and con—Decision of the Court.— Sixth Day—Indictments against Wall and Shepard nolled—Reasons why.— Seventh Day.—Eight Day—District-Attorney Belden goes home to rest.— Ninth Day—Testimony of Barber; of Sciples; of Bonney; of Thayer; of Reynolds; of Lowe.— Tenth Day—Testimony of Lowe continued—Jenning's affidavit and the Commissioner's warrant issued upon it—Testimony of Chittenden—Jennings recalled —Testimony of Davis— Prosecution rest—Witnesses for the Defence—E. S. Kinney L. Dickson; Bennett.— Eleventh Day—Testimony of Bennett continued—Testimony of Howk; of Meacham; of Cowles; of Patton; of Stevens; of Watson.— Twelfth Day—Mandeville, Niles, Williams, and Cummings plead nolle contendere—Testimony of Sexton; of Elliott; of Johnson; of H. Evans; of J. L. Wadsworth; of Bryce—Patton recalled—Cowles recalled History of the Oberlin-Wellington rescue http://www.loc.gov/resource/llst.005 Library of Congress —Defence rest with privilege of renewal—Prosecution in rebuttal recall Sciples; Wheeler; Lowe; Jennings—Defence recall Bennett; Meacham; Watson—Swear Gillett; Wadsworth — Testimony closed—Argument of District—Attorney Belden.— Thirteenth Day—Mr. Belden's argument continued—Mr. Griswold's argument.— Fourteenth Day—Argument of Mr. Backus.— Fifteenth Day—Argument of Judge Bliss—Charge of the Court— The Verdict. 94–169 CHAPTER FOURTH. Bushnell sentenced—The other cases continued to the July term—Discussion on the Journal entry of April 15th— Langston's Speech—His Sentence—De Wolfe, Loveland, and Wadsworth plead nolle contendere—Judge Andrew's Speech—Statement of the Oberlin Prisoners in Jail—Father Gillett sent home—Second Application for Habeas Corpus— Copy of the Writ—The Marshal concludes not to do his duty—Before the Supreme Court —Mr. Riddle's Argument—Mr. Swayne's Brief— Argument of Attorney-General Wolcott— Judge Swan's Opinion—Judge Scott's—Judge Peck's—Judge Brinkerhoff's—Judge Sutliff's—Constructive Jail-breaking. 170–231 CHAPTER FIFTH. The Kidnappers in trouble—Judge Carpenter's Charge to the Grand Jury—The first Indictment—The first Warrant—The second Indictment—The second Warrant—The Journal entry—Judge Willson indicted for kidnapping—Judge Willson's opinion of the Fugitive Law in 1852—Antecedents of great men—Marshal Johnson and his deputy Dayton—“Our Marshal”—Speech of Hon. J. R. French—The “Sons of Liberty”—The Cleveland Mass Meeting—Visit of the Sabbath School—The Finale—“The Rescue”— Kentucky courage—Judge McLean issues Habeas Corpus—A Strange proceeding— Prudence the better part of valor—The United States propose to capitulate—Terms agreed on—Prisoners exchanged—All discharged—So endeth “The First Siege of Oberlin”—The History of the Oberlin-Wellington rescue http://www.loc.gov/resource/llst.005 Library of Congress Rescuers' Resolves—Closing Scene at the Jail—Escorted to the Cars—Grand Reception at Oberlin—Reception of Bushnell—“A Song for Freedom”— The End 231–289 vi INTRODUCTORY NOTE. Nine years ago the moral sense of the better part of our nation, not to say of the civilized world, was shocked by the passage by Congress of the Fugitive Slave Act. The iniquities of this new device of oppression,—its assault upon personal rights in the virtual suspension of Habeas Corpus, its daring invasion of States-rights, its summary and cruel process of recaption, its arbitrary requirement that all citizens shall serve the man-hunter at his call, and vindictive penalties which it denounced against any who might be constrained by self-respect or humanity to disregard its infamous precepts,—these peculiarities made this composing draught* as “molten lead to a mint-julep” in comparison with all previous pro-slavery Federal enactments. Language could not describe the terror which this villany framed into law carried to the souls of the colored people scattered through the North, who saw that now, whether free or not, they might, at any moment, be spirited away under nominally-legal forms, and consigned to hopeless slavery. Nor could words express the profound apprehension with which the friends of Freedom foresaw in this new and abject concession to the slave-holding power its final predominance in our country. * The illustration is borrowed from a Speech made by a celebrated Cleveland divine soon after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. But the horror with which this so-called law was very generally regarded in the Free States was qualified, and almost, if not quite appeased by the conviction that so infamous an enactment would not and could not be enforced. Alas, for the hopes based on this conviction! The carrying into slavery of several persons afterwards proved to be free, and the recaption of one poor fugitive from oppression after another, soon proved that the cruel History of the Oberlin-Wellington rescue http://www.loc.gov/resource/llst.005 Library of Congress statute was not a dead letter. It has been from its enactment a living, as well as terrible, reality. vii What this ordinance, misnamed law, is; what its purposes, what its demands, and what its penalties are, and what the measures by which it enforces itself against the conscience and sense of justice which everywhere in the North oppose it,—all these points have been well illustrated in the now celebrated Oberlin-Wellington Rescue trials. These trials occurred on the Western Reserve—a name honorable for the reputation for love of Freedom which is coupled with it, and may, therefore, be supposed to exhibit a fair encounter on a fair field between the despotic enactment, and the outraged sense of right which protests against it. They engaged on both sides, and at the bar of both the Federal and Supreme State Courts, the highest legal talent in the State. A correct history of them will, therefore, show clearly what the Fugitive Slave Act is, and what measures its enforcement requires. Such a history is presented in this volume. Its compiler is a young man of excellent ability who has had more than common experience in reporting public events, and it has been made up, as the undersigned know from constant communication with the compiler, and from a careful review of his materials, with religious fidelity to truth.

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