Columbiana County, Ohio - Chapter 8: Helping Slaves to Freedom, 1905

Chapter 8: Helping Slaves to Freedom

Stories about the great Anti-Slavery Movement and the "Underground Railroad" - Salem a Station of the Mysterious Thoroughfare - Exciting Incidents in the Days Before the Civil War - Some of the Causes and Effects of the War of the Rebellion.

In the early settlement of Columbiana County, the sturdy Scotch of the southern townships and the Quakers in the north played a conspicuous part. This may he said without disparagement to any other class. But these two classes stamped the impress of their character and personality upon entire communities, casting sentiment in the molds of strict integrity, justice, right, loyalty to truth and to country. Love of freedom and a strict regard for lilierty of conscience were inherited principles with them. It is not surprising, then, that when the dark days of Civil War broke u|»>u the country, no other county in the State proved more ready to furnish its full quota of men for the suppression of the Rebellion. And while the Quakers were not as eager to engage in the actual shedding of blood as some others, their sincerity in the espousal of the cause of freedom - of universal lilnrrty - had long years liefore been tried and found not wanting. They were not lacking either in moral courage or in physical bravery, Back in the ',?o's. the '40' s and the "=;o*s Salem was known as headquarters of the Western Anti-Slavery Society, and a station on what was known as the "I'ndcrground Railroad." The blasts of the Anti- Slavery Hugle. inciting to deeds of self-sacrifice, with words of encouragement to the poor fugitive, l>eckoning him on to the gateway oj freedom, were heard almost throughout the land. The walls of the old City Hall in Salem.

which building still stood in 1905 as a landmark to those troublous times, have echoed to the voices of such men and women as William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Fred. Douglass. Cassius M. Clay. Abby Kelly, Parker Pillsbnry, John Pier|>ont and others, who won fame by their advocacy of the cause of the oppressed. And the dust of one of the soldiers of "Old John Brown of Osawatomie," that hero of mistaken zeal, though of earnest and self-sacrificing conviction, rests in IIojw Cemetery. Salem - F.dwin Copjxx-k having been a resident of the vicinity of Salem, and of Quaker parentage.

No one pretends in these days to deny that, while the Civil War was not waged for the purpose of freeing the slaves, the existence of slavery in this country was the remote as well a< the direct cause of the War of the Rebellion, and that the first gun fired upon Sumter heralded the doom of what many people, even in this land of ostensible freedom, had come to consider a "divine institution." While the [-"mancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln was penned with a heart full of sympathy for the down-trodden race, bent upon equal and exact justice to every man without regard to the color of his skin, yet the act was in itself and intrinsically one of immediate war necessity. Nevertheless it is true, that the Rebellion owed its inception, growth ami culmination in the frustration of the attempts of its leaders to

And Representative Citizens The Works Of Marks R. Robinson

The faculty and students of Oberlin College were early imbued with the anti-slavery sentiment, and some of its students entered the lecture field, advocating the cause of abolition. One of these who did valiant service was Marius R. Robinson. He was a resident "J Salem for many years, and tor several years the editor of the .Inti-SliKcry Bugle. M. R. Robinson Council No. 350. Royal Arcanum, of Salem, was named in his honor at iis organization in 1879. Oliver Johnson, a well-known antislavery worker, of those times, who edited the Bugle for a number of years during his residence in Salem, was also the author of "Garrison and His Times ;" and in the latter work refers to Marius R. Robinson as follows:

"Of Mr. Robinson there is a tale to be told, which coming generations ought to hear. A more gentle, sweet-spirited and self-consecrated man 1 have never known. He was exceedingly modest, never seeking conspicttity. hut willing to work in any place, however obscure, to which duty called him. For a time, after leaving the Theological Seminary, he devoted himself to the welfare of the colored people of Cinciniati, and for aught that I know was one of those who were so 'imprudent' as sometimes to take a meal with a colore* I family. It would have been just like him to do so. simple-hearted man that he was. Then he was for a time in the office of Mr. Rirney's Philanthropist, and when the mob came to destroy the types it was his tact and courage that saved the 'forms' from l>eing broken up, so that the paper of the week was printed in an adjoining town and delivered to its subscribers on time. At a later dav be entered the lecturing field in Ohio, where he did noble service, enduring all manner of hardness like a g*x>d soldier of freedom. He was a capital speaker, with much that we call magnetic K>rce for lack of a l>ctter term, and lie w as sure to make a deep impression wherever he <<>u!d get a hearing. It was during the 'reign of terror,' ami he was often harried by mobs and other exhibitions of anti-slavery malevolence. At Granville, Licking County, he was detained some time by severe illness. One day a constable obtruded himself into his sickroom and served upon him a paper, a copy of which I herewith present as a specimen of the pro-slavery literature of that day :

I'o IT C. Me.m>, Constable of said Township. Greeting: Whereas, We. the undersigned, overseers of the |Kior of Granville Township, have received information that there has lately cmnr into said township, a certain poor man. named Robinson, who is not a legal resident thereof, atul will he likely to become a township charge; you are therefore hereby commanded forthwith to warn the said Kobiiison, with his family ,to depart out of said township. And of this warrant make service and return. Given under our hands this first day of March,

"It was nearly two years before this that he went into Rerlin. Mahoning County, to deliver several lectures. On Friday evening, June 2, 1837. he spoke for the first time, and notice was given that on the following Sunday he would deliver a lecture to vindicate the Bible on the charge of supporting slavery. This was more than the public sentiment of Berlin could l>ear; and so. on Saturday evening, he was seized by a band of ruffians - two of them. I am told, memliers of the Presbyterian Church - dragged out of the house of a friend with whom he lodged, carried several miles away, and, besides many other insults, subjected to the cruel indignity of a coat of tar and feathers. In this condition he was carried some miles further, and in the darkness of a chilly Sunday morning, having lieen denuded of much of his clothing, left in an open field, in a strange place, where he knew no one to whom to look for aid. After daylight, he made his way to the nearest house, but the family was frightj encd at his appearance, and would render him no aid. At another house he was fortunate enough to find friends, who. in the spirit of the supplied Ins need*. Tlte Ixxlily injuries received on that dreadful night affected liis health ever aitcrward, and even aggravated the pain of his dying hours. But they brought no bitterness to his heart, which was full of tenderness toward those who had wronged him. He gave himself with fresh zeal to the work of reform, and few men have ever done more than be did to make purer and sweeter the moral atmosphere of the region in which he lived. In 1 85 1 he became editor of the Anti-Shivery Bugle at Salem, Ohio, and conducted it till the time of its discontinuance, after the abolition of slavery was substantially assured. His editorial services were of great value and won for him the admiration and the confidence of those who profited thereby. He died in Salem, respected and loved by the whole community.

"It seems incredible now that the pulpit of that day was generally silent in the presence of outrages like those inflicted on Mr. Robinson, and that leading newspapers spoke of them rather to condemn the victims than the authors. But such is the fact. Those who imagine that the conflict with the Slave Tower began with the organization of the anti-slavery political parties need to be reminded that no such parties could have had an existence but for the grand moral struggle that preceded them, and that was sustained for years by men and women who endured, bravely and unflinchingly, the reproach and scorn of hostile communities, and whose property and lives were often in peril."

The keen perception and earnest devotion of the Quaker to any cause which he espoused, coupled with his deep sympathy for the less fortunate of the human race, rendered him an efficient and faithful worker in the interest of the black man.

The rescue and escape of many a fugitive slave was aided and abetted by the people of Salem, during the days when the town was known the country over as a station on the "LTnderground Railroad." On one occasion, in the year 1854. when the anti-slavery feeling was running high, information came from a

I girl was being taken through by her master and mistress on their way South : and that the train which bore them would be due in Salem at a certain hour that day. There was a law on the statute lxx>ks at that time prohibiting the carrying of slaves into bondage over the Ohio railroads, but no such prohibition existed in Pennsylvania. Forwith a force of aljout 30 men was raised on the streets of Salem, and marched to the Fort Wayne Railroad station to rescue the young slave. A detail of men was made to board the train, and another detail designated to stand guard outside and uncouple the car in case the time arrived for the train to leave before the rescue had been effected. M. L. Kdwards. who still lived in Salem in 1905, was one of the last named detail.

The train arriving on time, the squad of men designated for the duty sprang aboard ami obtained possession of the girl, without resistance on her part or on the part of her reputed ow ners. The persons in charge contented themselves with simply offering a formal protest: and it is said a secret agent afterwards visited Salem and endeavored to obtain a clue to the "fugitive," but failed. She was kept in the families of Salem people for a number of years, perhaps for the longest portion of the time in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joel McMillan, near the site of what is now Grandvicw

1 Cemetery. Mrs. McMillan, who in KJ05 was --till living, although at an advanced age recalled the circ umstances of the case quite clearly. She rarely tired of relating the incident, or of telling of the trouble she had with the girl, who proved a veritable "Topsy." It was found necessary to punish her pretty often, to which she rebelled, declaring her "Southern misses never beat her.'' But a day or two later she gave herself awav thus: "Misses, didn't vou nebbcr lib in de Smif ?" "No." Mrs. McMillan said; "but why do you ask?" "Oh. kase you all heah whips 'zactly like my old misswes done whupped me."

And Representative Citizen'S

which she owed lier freedom, nn<l whose name she h< re. The Abhy Kelly in whose honor she was named was a noted aliolition lecturer of those days, and frequently visited and lectured in Salem.

George Hunt, the Salem historian, in his "History of Salem," gives the following, which will aid to an understanding of the spirit of those old anti-slavery days:

"Not alone did the white brethren give voice to the demands for universal freedom. The escaped slave himself joined in the mighty anthem whose quickening burden, swelling to amplest tempest, rolled from sea to sea. Among the fugitives were William W. Brown - -called William ("Box"') Brown from having once escaped from slavery concealed in a box - and Joe Mason, supposed to have been a natural son of James Mason, ex-United States Senator and Governor of Virginia. They cheered on the cause with vigorous songs, adapted from plantation melodies, but not weighted with plantation sentiments. The following, with additional verses, as sung by Brown, was a favorite :

"A carpenter shop about 18 by 48 feet in size was built by Samuel Reynolds about the year 1840, and the upper room of which was the general meeting place of the people of the town for the discussion of all subjects. When the agitation of the slavery question l>ecame so warmly discussed in the churches that difficulties arose, and the churches and sehoolhouscs were closed to the defenders of universal brotherhood, they went to the room over the carpenter shop. This building was christened 'Liberty Hall,' and was the cradle of the society which was evoked from that whirlpool of opinion caused by the counter-currents of thought respecting the slavery question. Eor many years it was kept as a place for discussions and caucus meetings, and within it a course of lectures was plaunc:! in which the Itest talent of the country was engaged. This course of lectures was delivered in the Town Hall, ami Wendell Phillips, Abby Kelly, John i lecturer. The trustees of the church gave as a reason for their refusal : 'We think the principles of the lecturer arc dangerous to our common country.' "

Iiavkn For Fugitive Slaves

"Sometime on in the '->o's a fugitive slave woman named Maria Britt came to Salem. Here she found a place of employment among the Quakers, especially the family of Samuel Davis. By the proceeds of her laliors she got a lot from him on what is now Green street. It is now occupied by a small dwelling house which for some years was used as the Methodist Gturch. On this lot a small brick house was built on which she passed most of the remainder of her life. She had a husband who was held in bondage in the South, and, like any true wife, she wished him here. Wherefore she got some of her white friends to write a letter to him. By some mishap this letter got into the hands of her old master, who set al«ut the job of rescuing her.

"A relative of Dr. Stanton, who lived at Steuljenville, got wind of the plot, and sent word that the master was coming here to search for his property. Thereupon Maria was clandestinely sent 1o Couneaut. a settlement of Friends in Trumbull County, where she remained until it was deemed safe for her to return to Salem. During her absence a mysterious stranger came to Salem, and stopped some days at one of the taverns. He frequently walked the streets, and jK-eped into the houses, especially the kitchens, but he did not find his lost 'property.' Maria Britt made some true friends here beside the Quakers, and she made a fair living by doing washing, house-cleaning, cooking wedding dinners. e(c. She made her self very useful to the people here. Being of a pious turn of mind she took delight in attending religious meetings. But there prejudice of color prevailed and she felt much embarrassed.

"Otic negro came here and worked for Josiah Kawcett 1 1 years, and during that time paid a visit to his old home - even went into bis master's kitchen without being detected. This is only one sample of the ingenuity of some of them in getting from slavery. In April. 1850. a white woman and a negro woman stopped at Webb's tavern. The colored people ! of the town interrogated the ncgress as to her residence and destination. And they were thus led to l>elieve that she was being decoyed into Virginia to be sold as a slave. She declared that she had never been a slave, and refused to go any further. Thus she was rescued."

Thirteen Hv.Itivks Ix O.Nk Iioisk

Joel S. Bonsall, long prominently connected with the Buckeye Engine Works' of Salem, and son of Daniel Bonsall. who came to the Salem community in 1820, often told, prior to his death in iyo_>. stories of the exciting events of his boyhood in connection with the "Underground Railroad" o|>erations. He remembered many instances of fugitive slaves, who having ' crossed the Ohio, made their way through to Salem during the night and sought refuge with his father and others of the active anti-slavery workers, lie rcmeml>ered one night, in particular, when as high as 13 fugitives were hidden in his father's house.* One of the most active lieutenants of his father was Dr. Stanton, a pioneer physician, and his student. Kevser Thomas. They looked out for fugitive slaves, and on finding them took them to the Bonsall home, often using as a conveyance the horse and wagon of William Watcrworth. In later years

In one of the Ohio Archaeological Society's publications - "The Pathfinders of Jefferson County." - some very interesting data are found regarding the early history of the "Underground Railroad." Prof. Wilbur H. Seihert, A. M.. of Akron, a prominent Ohio educator, tells of the naming of the "Underground" route. He says:

"Slaves were thirsting for lilxirty, and were finding relief with the secret help of a few scattered, principle-abiding if not law-abiding people. These were The Simon-pure alxilitionists, who braved public prejudice for years, and ostracized themselves by helping the deserving negro to his lilierty. Taken together they constituted that mysterious organization known as the "Underground Railroad.' It was the selfimposed business of those concerned to receive, forward, conceal and protect fugitives.' It got its name from the hidden methods it employed in its operations. The way the name was received was as follows: A fugitive named Tice Davids traveled "lie of the Ohio routes in 1 83 1 from Ripley to Sandusky. The slave set out upon his journey under unusual circumstances, no doubt: for his master, a Kentuckian. was at his heels from the start till the Ohio River was reached. There the master was delayed by his search for a skiff, but found one in time to keep the runaway in sight, now swimming his best, and to land only a few minutes later than he. His subsequent hunt failed to secure his property, ami the master was much mystified. At his w its' end. he said : 'That nigger must have gone off on an underground road.' The aptness of the title was seen at once, and the rapid transmission of the story within and beyond the State soon fixed the designation on the 'system.' Up to 18^5 it was known as the "Underground Road." After that the name naturally changed to the "Underground Railroad."

"'The Underground Railroad system," continues Professor Sieben. "was far more extensive than w as generally supposed. There were branches through all the zone of Free States from New England to Kansas and Iowa; while in the Southern States there were at least four great lines of travel from the South to the North used by the fugitives. One was that along the coast from Florida to the l'otomac. The second was that route protected by 'The great Appalachian range and its abutting mountains, a rugged, lonely, but comparatively safe route to freedom.* This line was one much used."

Richard J. Hinton. in his book on "'John Urown and His Men," tells us that Harriet Tubman, the remarkable black woman who made her escape from the South unassisted when a young girl, and then gave herself to the work of fetching out others, "was a constant user of the' Appalachian route." Her people lovingly called her "Moses." and John Brown introduced her to Wendell Phillips by saying, "I bring you one of the best and lira vest persons on this continent, (ienera! Tubman, as we call her.'* Harriet Tubman is said to have assisted, in all, several thousand slaves to freedom.

The valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi constituted the third great channel of the fugitive slaves travel northward, while the fourth route ran from the Southwest slave section through Kansas, Iowa and Northern Illinois to Chicago.

Professor Seibert declares there were not less than 23 ports of entry for runaway slaves along the Ohio River front of this State. Thirteen of these admitted the fugitives from the 275 miles of Kentucky shore on our south and southwest, while the other 10 received those from the 150 miles of V irginia ( now W est Virginia) soil on our southeast. From the>e initial depots the Ohio routes ran in zigzag lines, treading generally in a northeastern direction, linking station with station in mysterious bind, until a place of deportation was reached on Lake Erie. One of these way stations was Mount Pleasant. Jefferson County, and another was Salem, Columbiana County.

wielded with the greatest possible wisdom - was the Aitti-SUnrry Bugle. The paper was published as the weekly organ of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society, afterward the W estern Anti-Slavery'Society.' The first halfdozen issues of the new journal were published from New Lisbon, when the office was removed and permanently established in Salem, where it was issued regularly for upwards of 18 years, or until 1863. when, the announced purpose for which it had been established, the emancipation of the slaves, having been accomplished, it suspended. The first regularly employed editor was Benjamin S. Jones, with J. Elizabeth- Hitchcock - who later became Mrs. Jones - as associate. The following announcement appears in the first number of the paper, on June 20, 1845:

"In extending to our readers our first greeting, we by no means intend to disparage ourselves that they may exalt us. Though you man consider our garb rather homespun, and our style somewhat homely, yet we come before you with no humble pretensions. Our mission is a great and glorious one. It is to preach deliverance to the captive, and the opening of the prison door to them that are bound ;" to hasten in the day when 'liberty shall be proclaimed throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.' Though in view of the magnitude of this enterprise, we feel that the intellect and power of an angel would l>e but as a drop in the ocean of Truth, by which the vilest system of oppression the sun ever shone upon is to be swept away, yet knowing as we do that our influence is cast with Justice and Humanity, with Truth and the God of Truth, our pretensions are far from humble, though our talents may he justly so considered. He who professes to plead for man degraded and imbrutcd, and to strive for the elevation of the crushed millions of his race; he who professes to labor for the restoration of manhood to man, and for the recognition of his divine nature, makes no humble pretensions. It is true, our Bugle blast may not fall upon your ears with all the sweetness and softness which so well becomes the orchestra of an Italian or French opera company; but we intend that it shall give no uncertain sound, and God aiding us, we will blow a blast that shall be clear and startling as a hunting horn or battle charge, and we trust trust that its peals shall play around the hilltops, and shall roll over the plains and down the valleys of our Slate, until from the waters of the Ohio to those of the mighty Lakes, from Pennsylvania, on the east to Indiana on the west, the land shall echo and reecho to the \ soul-stirring crv of 'No Union With Slaveholders.' "

That the anti-slavery doctrine, such as was taught by the Bugle in those days, was treated by many as rank fanaticism, is shown by an extract from the New Lisbon Palladium of June 20, 1845 ;

"Jane F.lizalwth Hitchcock and Benjamin S. Jones delivered themselves, in this place, on last Monday evening, of speeches, abusing in the .most unmeasured terms the American churches. Miss Hitchcock, in point of talent, will not compare with Abby Kelly; and as for modesty she is a slander ui>on her sex. We have now Miss Kelly and her man Friday, and Miss Hitchcock and her man Jones, traversing this State, endeavoring to poison the minds of the people on the subject of abolition. Their efforts will be ineffectual ; for. fortunately, they carry the antidote with them. Go and hear them, and. our word for it you will be completely and forever cured of the kind of abolition advocated by them."

On several occasions during the early '50's the visits of spies or slave-owners to Salem making search for fugitives almost resulted in riotous demonstrations by the people. I-ate in January, 1850. a spy visited the town, claiming to be an agent of an anti-slavery society near Marietta, and obtained a definite clue to the whereabouts of two or three escaped slaves. As to whether the fugitives were being har- Inred in Salem or vicinity at that time there is no record at this late day. for the anti-slavery workers were not prone to publicity at that time. At any rate, the first week in February found two slaveholders from Virginia at Coast's hotel, on Main street. looking for their human property. A small riot ensued, and the

Virginians were fortunate to escape without suffering violence. The slnti-Slaz'ery Bugle of February 9th, telling the story of the visit, says in part :

"The villians arrived about noon and rode leisurely through Main street to the West End, where they turned north and made for a small house alxnit a quarter of a mile from the village, in which lived a colored family. The name of these man-hunters were Archilrald Paul and Samuel Mitchell, his son-in-law. On reaching the house, they attempted to coax the inmates to a parley, representing that they had come (kind souls!) to offer them a chance to go back to 'Old Virginia,' having understood that they were in a suffering condition. A colored woman came at once to the village and gave the alarm and forthwith a considerable multitude started for the scaie. The kidnappers, finding that the colored people were too widely awake to be caught by their smooth professions, started back toward the village, where they were met by a company of indignant citizens, who followed them to Coast's hotel, where they dismounted. * * * The scoundrels went into the hotel where they took a horn of whiskey, and treated certain fellows, who were sufficiently degraded, to licpior at their expense. After a while they mounted their horses and rode off toward New Lisbon."

So incensed was the populace over this visit, according to the papers of the time, that ati indignation meeting was held on Friday evening of the same week in the Second Baptist Church. "According to previous notice," says the Bugle of February 16th. "a large number of the citizens of Salem, without distinction of party or sex. assembled to express their indignation at the outrage and insult which had been committed upon the moral sensibility of the people of Salem by the recent visit to our town of two slaveholders and one of their emissaries for the purpose of searching out some of their alleged fugitives."

Barred From Meeting Houses

The Friends were not unanimous in their approval of the anti-slavery methods used. Strong opposition devclojied when a meeting was attempted at Columbiana, as shown by a letter published in the Bugle of February 9. 1840. The letter is dated at Columbiana, 2nd month, 2nd. 1849. and reads: friends Editors - \ undertook to get a meeting :it Midcllcton for Isaac Trcscott and James Ramahy. The citizens are principally Orthodox Friends. There are in the village convenient for the meeting a few workshops, two school houses and one meeting house, hut I found them all closed against the nltohtionists. The district school house was huilt with the understanding lhat it should he used only for school purposes, and the Friends' meeting house and school house are barred against the admission of free thought and free speech; there is nothing permitted in them hut orthodox sectarianism The Friends there do not understand the first rudiments of reform. The privileged among them can discuss Wilbcrism and Gucrncyism in their meetings to their hearts' content, but the slave is not permitted to enter in their assemblies, nor is his prayer for mercy at their hand* heeded William Shaw and Etwood Chapman, two mechanics of Middleton. Uith members of the Society of Friends, would not suffer me to put up notices of the meetings on their shop doors, assigning as a reason that the disunionists are infidels, and they did not think it would be right to encourage anything of the kind. Richard H. Beasou, a blacksmith, refused me the same privilege, because the people were opposed to having an anti-slavery meeting in the village. I was also informed that Daniel Mercer, who is not a member of any denomination, said he would give 1$ cents to as-ist in tarring and feathering Abby Foster if she ever came into the region again, and would be one of a company to do the deed ; and his wife offered to cut open her feather heds to furnish a part of the material. There was. however, one friend of humanity in the village. Isaac James, in whose house a meeting was held on the .7th nit . and which was much larger than was expected. None of the old Friends were present, but quite a number of the young ones. Hiram Rigg no unusual attention. The issue of the Bugle of July 3, 1846, gives a naive report of one of these tragedies, though whether justice was ever meted out to the assassin the Bugle in subsequent issue fails to state. The letter given below was from one A. Bear, Jr., who seems to have been a prominent Columbiana County agitator in those days :

Crawford Couxtv. Ohio, June 22, 1846. Esteemed Friends - \n laboring for the oppressed. T find great difficulty in getting the people to listen. So strong is their prejudice against the negro, they will not hear the advocates of this cause. Since I left Salem, some of my audience.* have been very small At Knoxville. Jefferson County, I could obtain only .1 small house, which was filled by the women, the men standing in the street. Almost the entire village was out; the proslavery clan made much noise at a distance, but did not greatly disturb the meeting. At Richmond, the meeting was considerably disturbed. At Jefferson. Harrison County. I could get no meeting, for the people were all agog about the Mexican War. At Mount Eaton. Wayne County, the rabble made so much noise that I could not be heard by the audience. The shouts of "Eggs! Niggers! Hurrah for Texas!1' were incessant. In going to my lodgings in company with two young men, some 20 or 25 of the mobocrats followed us. crying, "Egg him ! Egg him !" and commenced throwing stones. On Friday evening I had a large meeting in the Methodist Church, I had not spoken more than 20 minutes when a rail was thrust at me through a window behind the pulpit It did not reach trie, but the occurrence disturbed the audience very much. When order was restored. I proceeded with my discourse. The mobnerat, having entered the house, seated himself directly in front of the pulpit, and told me I was a liar, blackleg, etc. I remonstrated mildly with him, but he became more rude. Several men plead with him not to disturb the meeting, but he became more furious, and they put him out of the house. In a few moments he returned, and, with a brickbat, struck one of the men who had aided in taking him out. The missile was thrown with such force that the man dropped as if struck by a grapeshot. So singular was the sound produced by the blow, that I think his skull must have been fractured by it After the wounded man had been seated in a pew. and while the Mood was streaming from his head, the demon, finding he had not killed him. rushed through the crowd and seized him by the hair in order to finish the work of death. He was quickly thrust away, and the wounded man removed to a room break in the door, but was prevented He then wciii into the pulpit (which I had left), seized a book and commenced reading a sermon, but soon called the Methodistblacklegs, because they countenanced a blackleg. A person present seized a chair and struck at the villain five or six times, but was too low to reach him. He afterward sought for this man in order to kill him. n:)til the time of his arrest, which was about 2 o'clock at night. It is said he hail no grudge against cither of tin -.e men. He had prepared himself during the day to <|o mischief at night, and I was the one against whom his attacks were to he directed. And I know not why I escaped unhurt, and that David Officer was the sufferer, tulles* it was because that ill-fated friend of humanity had aided in putting the villain out of the house. Truest morning I visited the wounded man. and from appearances judged he could not long survive, 1 have since learned that he died a few days afterward, leaving a wife and five little children He was an hottest, inoffensive citizen, and posessed hut little property

Thus is the name of another martyr added to those of Lovcjoy and Torrey. Thus the anti-slavery enterprise is irrigated by the blood of another friend of human rights. May his spirit rest in Paradise, and the blessings of God be on his disconsolate widow and fatherless little ones. Would it not be well for rihohtu mists to raise some funds for the unhappy widow and orphan children? She is entitled to aid, and the act would receive the blcs-ing of (iod and the approval of the well disposed in the land. I am yet in the field, and uu-t by the grace of long to remain there. I sleep with my loins girt and my armor on. and I pray (iod that 1 may never, in the words of Judas Maccabees, turn my back on the enemy. Though our army is small, and the armies <:f dog ami Mag- .g innumerable, yet let ;he handful of scorned .-ohher- of the Prince of Peace be true and brave, and they will triumph. The Lurd God grant u* victory Sincerely your friend ami co-laborer in the cati-e of lumiani:y.

The motto of (he Anti-Shivery Hu<Ac was. - "No Union With Slaveholders." Ami so, pushing this idea to its utmost though legitimate limit, ihe school of anti-slavery men and woman which was represented In the paper laid themselves liable at times to the charge of disloyalty to the Union. This tendency is shown by an editorial extract which follows, from the />'it«/<' of August ti. 184K: dissolution of the Union should be spurned as treason ; and the madmen who attempt its destruction deserve alike our anger and our pity. An attempt by any one portion of the Union to dissolve the compact, could and would be suppressed at once.' Such sentiments are not unfrccpicntly met with in political papers, and it appears to be taken for granted by a certain class of persons, not only that the Union should not, but that it cannot be dissolved; and they talk aljout compulsion as though the Federal government had a right to use it against a seceding Stale. It this position is susceptible of proof, we should like to bear the evidence; for with our present light, we must deny the existence of a particle of authority on the part of the United States government to compel an unwilling State to remain in the Union. The powers of the legislative, judicial and executive branches of the national government are all clearly defined in the constitution of the United States; and as this government exists only by virtue of delegated authority, it has no power to compel a State either to become a member of, or remain in the co-partnership termed the Federal Union, unless it can lie clearly shown that such power has l«en conferred upon it by the States themselves. But there is no such power enumerated in the constitution as belonging to either branch of the government. Congress was empowered to declare what States might come into the Union, but not to chain them in eternal fetters as soon as they had entered. By the terms of the contract each States hinds itself to submit to all the constitutional requirements of Congress, the judiciary or the executive - to yield obedience to each section au<l article of the constitution.

* * * We claim then that the Federal Union is not the rat-trap some represent it to i be, into which the victim is at liberty to enter or not to enter as he sees fit. but when once in can never escape. It is rather a house, the door of which is opened by the proprietor to such who knock for adiniss:on. as he chooses to receive, and who leaves all his guests at liberty to depart when they will, without troubling him :o play the porter."

County and vicinity in 1850 were given as follows: David L. Galbreath and L. Johnson, New Garden ; Lot Holmes, Columbiana ; David L. Barnes, Berlin; Ruth Cope, Georgetown: Simon Sheets, East Palestine; A. G. Richardson, Achor; Joseph Barnaby, Mount Union. James Barnaby was "publisher's agent." The negro population of the county in 1850 is given by the Bugle as 417 ; Jefferson County's at 497.

There were rescues of fleeing negroes and kidnapped fugitives later in the '50 s on the southern side of the county. In 1853 N. L*. Walker, for many years a leading manufacturer of sewer, pipe two miles east of Wellsville, and Alexander Wells, who was still living in the spring of 1905, rescue*] a negro toy who had been kidnapped. Two men brought the lad into Wellsville and took him on lxuird a train which was standing at the Cleveland & Pittsburg station. Messrs. Walker and Wells happened to be nearby and their suspicions were at once aroused. They boarded the train and. while Walker engaged the men in conversation, Wells took the boy by the hand ant] slipped him out of the car. Taking him to his store on Lisbon (now Third) street, Wells secreted the lad in the cellar. After the train had made a 10 minutes stop, ami Walker had talked with the kidnappers long enough to suit his purpose, the latter individuals looked about in consternation for their whilom charge, but without avail. Mr. Wells turned the lx>y over to Joseph R. McCready, who took him out to his farm in the "Scotch Settlement," where the young negro remained for 10 years, upon the lapse of which time President Lincoln's proclamation ha<l done its good work for the colored man.

The Coppock Brothkrs

In a biography of John Brown, published as one of the "Twentieth Century Classics." by Crane & Company, Topeka, Kansas, a brief -sketch of each of the men captured with "Old Osawatomie" at Harper's Ferry, with their subsequent fate, is given. Two of the entries follow : who moved to Springdale, Iowa. Young Coppock was in Kansas a short time in 1856. Drilled in Springdale school. Although young, he seems to have been trusted by John Brown. Escaped from Harper's Ferry, and was killed in a wreck on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, caused by Rebels, who sawed the bridge timbers partially off.

"No. 13. Edwin Coppock. Lieutenant. Born near Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio, June 30, 1835. Elder brother of Barclay Coppock. Hung in Virginia, December 16, 1859. W as brave and generous, honorable, loyal and true."

The Coppock brothers were children of Quaker parents, born and reared in the immediate vicinity of Salem. And it was the doctrine imbibed early through their Quaker surroundings, that "all men are created equal," that induced the brothers to join their fortunes with John Brown while he was yet battling for defenseless fugitive slaves in "Poor, Bleeding Kansas." They went with him on his illfated raid into Virginia, and with him were captured at Harper's Ferry, October 17, 1859. I Barclay escaped, but Edwin was hanged at Charlestown, Virginia, December 16. 1859. The charge under which he was indicted and convicted, in common with John Brown the leader, and executed, was for "feloniously conspiring with each other, and other persons unknown, to make an alx>lition insurrection and open war against the Commonwealth of Virginia." On the same day, December 16. 1859, at Charlestown, were executed with Brown these four of his soldiers: Coppock. Cook. Copeland and Green. Two others. Stephens and Hazlett, were put to death in the same way later.

The last letter Edwin Coppock ever wrote was to his uncle. Joshua Coppock. then living in Butler township, Columbiana County, It is : pregnant with prophesy long since fulfilled. It was written but three days l>efore the young 1 raider's execution, and reads as follows :

My Dear Unclf - I scat myself by the stand to write ' for tlie tir*t ami last time to the* and thy family Though far from home and overtaken by misfortune. I have not i forgotten you. Your generous hospitality toward> me.

during my short strty with yon List -priug. i* damped indelibly upon my heart, and also the generosity In -towed upon my poor brother, who now wandi-r- an ouir.i-t from his, native hud I -tit I thank God he >* free I art:, thankful it is 1 who have lo suffer instead of him.

The time may come when he <vil! remember me. And the time may come when he may s:i!l further remember the cattle in which I die Thank Cod. the principles ot the cause in which we were engaged will not die with ine and my brave comrade* They will .spread wider and wider and Rather strength with each hour that p.i-.-e% The voice of truth will eel") through our land, bringing conviction to the erring and adding member* to that glorious army who will follow its banner. The cause of everlasting truth and justice will go on computing and to compter until our broad and beautiful land shall rest beneath the banner of freedom. I had fondly hoped to live to see the principles of the Declaration of Independence fully realised. 1 lind hoped to see the dark slain of slavery hlotted from our land, and the libel of our boasted freedom erased, when we can say in truth that our beloved country is the land of the free and the home of the brave; but that can not be

1 have heard my sentence passed; my doom is sealed But two more short days remain for mc to fulfill my earthly destiny. But two brief days between me and eternity. At the expiration of these two days I shall stand upon the scaffold to take my la<st look of earthly scenes. But that scaffold ha* but little dread for me. for I honestly believe that 1 am innocent of any crime justifying such punishment But by the taking of my life and the lives of my comrades. Virginia i< but hastening on that glorious day. when the sla\e shall rejoice in his freedom, When he. too. can say. "I. ton, am a man. and am groaning no more under the yoke of oppression." But I must now close Accept this short scrawl as a remembrance of me. Give my love to all the family. Kiss little Joey for me Remember me to all my relative* and friend* And now, farewell, for the last time. From thy nephew.

Edwin and Barclay Coppock were saris of Samuel and Ann Coppock, and nephews of Joseph Coppock. Rev. Joseph Coppock and Isaac Coppock were brothers. The latter died in Butler township about 1895. Isaac Coppock left one daughter, Mrs. Hopkins, who was living in 1905 near Damascus, Columbiana County.

buried in Hope Cemetery. Joshua Coppock, uncle of the young raider, brought the remains home. The next day after their arrival at Mr. Coppock's house in Butler township, there were over 2.000 visitors to the little farm house, and such a funeral had never l>een seeti in Columbiana County as was given this young man, who fell a victim to what he regarded as a sacred principle.

At the edge of one of the main drives in Hope Cemetery stands a plain sandstone shaft, about ten feet high, bearing ihe simple inscription, "KDWTN COPPOCK." In April. 1005, the mount! was bare of grass or flower : but at the base of the monument was a glass jar, containing faded flowers from the season previous - a silent token that some one had paid a passing tribute to Edwin Coppock's memory. At the recurrence of each Memorial Day, (he grave invariably receives its quota of flowers, though it is not officially honored as are the graves ot the Civil War veterans that lie nearby.

Barclay Coppock. Edwin's brother, who escaped from Harper's Ferry Iwfore John Brown and others of his men were captured, was hunted by men from Virginia, a reward of $4,000 having l>een offered for his lx>dy dead or alive. One of the hunting parties came to the house of Joshua Coppock, but did not find Barclay, for he was well guarded. After the breaking out of the Civil War, Barclay entered the service and was employed as a recruiting officer in Kansas. He had gathered a large force of men and was with them crossing the Mississippi River, when the bridge over which they were passing fell, and all were drowned.

In The Border Warkare

Daniel J. Smith, the "Prophet of Mount Pisgah," who was living in 1905, hale and hearty at the age of 77. was an aggressive factor in the anti-slavery movement, no less than in the political history of Columbiana County, for more than half a century. In the spring of 1905 he was still active in the real estate business in East Liverpool. His career has been varied and characteristic of the man. as anti-slavery agitator, and agent and operator of the "Underground Railroad;" aggressive in local and State politics from as early as the Whig and Know-Nothing times up to the first decade in the new century. He has been Whig, Know-Nothing, "Black Abolitionist," Republican, Prohibitionist, Greenbacker, Republican again and finally back into the forlorn hope of the Prohibition fold. In 1856 Smith went to Missouri and took a hand in the border ruffian warfare in which "Bleeding Kansas" was the stake for which the pro-slavery men of Missouri and the anti-slavery agitators of the times were contending. He was an ally and aider and abettor of John Brown, in that memorable period. He was with the party in 1857 that located the arms and other war munitions which had been stolen from the United States Arsenal at Liberty, Missouri, and secreted at Kickapoo, by the border ruffians - 250 stands of arms, with one cannon, which was afterward known as "Jim Lane's Peacemaker." Jim Lane, Jack Montgomery and Dan Smith, with a small force of abolitionists, recruited by Lane at Leavenworth, Kansas, found these munitions and recaptured them. Smith later aided John Brown, financially and otherwise, in his work of freeing fugitive slaves, and in making their escape through Missouri, Kansas, and on to Canada. He also, personally, after his return to Columbiana County, aided in running six slaves out of Virginia, by the "Underground Railroad" in this county, through to one of the stations on Lake Erie, and thence to Canada.

Smith had taken with him his wife and infant son, Josiah T Smith (a prominent business man of East Liverpool as late as iox>5), to Missouri. His uncle. Col. George Smith, had a few years earlier taken 2,000 sheep from Columbiana County and located on a ranch in Caldwell County. Missouri. Colonel Smith became a slaveholder, and naturally a sympathizer with the pro-slavery men of the time. But he had been measurably instrumental in Daniel's going to Missouri: and as "blood is thicker than water." he stood by his nephew in the troubles which Dan's headstrong and outs]ioken aggressiveness led him into. Daniel had taken Horace Greeley's advice upon his arrival in Missouri, and had in 1857 taken up a hundred or two acres of land with the intention of growing up with the country. Then his liking for a tight, as well as his inborn sympathy with the "downtrodden race." led him into the anti-slavery movement. Thenceforward he was a "sotted man" in Caldwell County. A neighbor of Smith - John Mendersou - had been killed by the pro-slaverv "regulators." and several others had been tarred and feathered and run out of the State. The next victim, it developed, was to be Dan Smith. This was in 1859. A committee waited upon him. and forced an expression as to Smith'.: views on the anti-slavery movement, and the methods of the "regulators." That sort of forcing was easy with Daniel; and the result was that he was given 48 hours in which to "get out." Daniel was armed, and his house was a little arsenal: while his wife, a daughter of the late Hon. Josiah Thompson, of East Liverpool, could handle a gun almost as well as Daniel himself. The committee were ordered out of the house; and they went. But soon a sympathizer warned Smith that the man had been named who was to kill him, and he had tetter leave. He declined to lie run off and declared he would stay and, if necessary, fight for his life. It the worst came to the worst, there would be more than one funeral, he said. His uncle. Col. George Smith, learning the situation of affairs, intervened with the committee of "regulators." who had given Smith his warning. He told them that if his nephew had violated the law, he would lend his influence and assistance in every way to bring him to trial : but that from any lawless violence he would protect him with his own life. This brought the committee to bay at once , but the friends of Daniel, knowing that a tragedy was Ixmnd to follow, advised him to prepare to leave as soon as possible. Accordingly, after sending his wife and child liack to friends in Columbiana County, he settled his affairs as best he could and returned to the scenes of hi.s eirlier labors a poorer, but doubtless in somesense a wiser man. Smith said afterward that at least one-half his invested resources in Missouri went, involuntarily on his part, to the sup|)ort of the pro-slavery cause, through prac- tical confiscation by his enemies. Col. George Smith, although a slaveholder in a slave Stat?, when the War of the Rebellion broke out, came out squarely for the Union and the old (lag. Some years lie fore going West he had represented Columbiana County in the Ohio Legislature, and after the war he served eight years as provost marshal of Missouri and two terms as Lieutenant Governor of the State. Tor upwards of 20 years in all. Daniel J. Smith was an active member of the Western branch of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

It is not intended here to enter upon the dark CiviJ War days of 1861-65 as they affected the county and its |>eople. The historian of the Civil War has attended to that. It has been said earlier in this chapter that Columbiana County did her part bravely and well in giving of her sons to light and die, if need be. to perpetuate the Union. Something in detail of what Columbiana County did in three wars - that with Mexico, the Civil War and the war with Spain - is told in a later chapter. In the days preceding the firing of the first gun by the S< null the young memliers of the Friends" societies of Salem and elsewhere learned so well the lesson of the cause of al>olition, that when Abraham Lincoln sent out over the land his first call for troops many of these young Friends disobeyed the mandates of the Quaker creed, and rushed hotly forth to bear arms against the slaveholder in reliellion against his country.