I have the required information of four men that is within two miles of each other. Now, the best is for you to come as a hunter, disguised about two days ahead of your son and let him come by way of Philadelphia and get the deputy marshal, John Nagle I think is his name. Tell him the situation and he can get force of the right kind. It will take about twelve so that they can divide and take them all within half an hour. Now, if you can come on the 2nd or 3rd of September come on & I will meet you at the gap when you get there. Inquire for Benjamin Clay's tavern. Let your son and the marshal get out [at?] Kinyer's [sic] hotel. Now, if you cannot come at the time spoken of, write very soon and let me know when you can. I wish you to come as soon as you possibly can.

Very respectfully thy friend

William M.P.

I WAS born opposite to Queen Anne, in Anne Arundel County, in the State of Maryland, on a plantation called Rowdown. My master was Major William Brogdon, one of the wealthy men of that region. He had two sons,--William, a doctor, and David, who held some office at Annapolis, and for some years was a member of the Legislature.

My old master died when I was very young; so I know little about him, except from statements received from my fellow-slaves, or casual remarks made in my hearing from time to time by white persons. From those I conclude that he was in no way peculiar, but should be classed with those slaveholders who are not remarkable either for the severity or the indulgence they extend to their people.

* * *

On the day I ceased working for master, after gaining the woods, we lurked about and discussed our plans until after dark. Then we stole back to the Quarter, made up our bundles, bade some of our friends farewell, and at about nine o'clock of the night set out for Baltimore. How shall I describe my first experience of free life? Nothing can be greater than the contrast it affords to a plantation experience, under the suspicious and vigilant eye of a mercenary overseer or a watchful master. Day and night are not more unlike. The mandates of Slavery are like leaden sounds, sinking with dead weight into the very soul, only to deaden and destroy. The impulse of freedom lends wings to the feet, buoys up the spirit within, and the fugitive catches glorious glimpses of light through rifts and seams in the accumulated ignorance of his years of oppression. How briskly we travelled on that eventful night and the next day!

        We reached Baltimore on the following evening, between seven and eight o'clock. When we neared the city, the patrols were out, and the difficulty was to pass them unseen or unsuspected. I learned of a brick-yard at the entrance to the city; and thither we went at once, took brick-dust and threw it upon our clothes, hats, and boots, and then walked on. Whenever we met a passer-by, we would brush off some of the dust, and say aloud, "Boss gave us such big tasks, we would leave him. We ought to have been in a long time before." By this ruse we reached quiet quarters without arrest or suspicion.

        We remained in Baltimore a week, and then set out for Pennsylvania.

        We started with the brightest visions of future independence; but soon they were suddenly dimmed by one of those unpleasant incidents which annoy the fugitive at every step of his onward journey.

        The first place at which we stopped to rest was a village on the old York road, called New Market. There nothing occurred to cause us alarm; so, after taking some refreshments, we proceeded towards York; but when near Logansville, we were interrupted by three white men, one of whom, a very large man, cried,--

        "Hallo!"

        I answered,--

        "Hallo to you!"

        "Which way are you travelling?" he asked.

        We replied,--

        "To Little York."

        "Why are you travelling so late?"

        "We are not later than you are," I answered.

        "Your business must be of consequence," he said.

        "It is. We want to go to York to attend to it; and if you have any business, please attend to it, and don't be meddling with ours on the public highway. We have no business with you, and I am sure you have none with us."

        "See here!" said he; "you are the fellows that this advertisement calls for," at the same time taking the paper out of his pocket, and reading it to us.

        Sure enough, there we were, described exactly. He came closely to us, and said,--

        "You must go back."

        I replied,--

        "If I must, I must, and you must take me."

        "Oh, you need not make any big talk about it,' he answered; "for I have taken back many a runaway, and I can take you. What's that you have in your hand?'

        "A stick.'

        He put his hand into his pocket, as if to draw a pistol, and said,--

        "Come! give up your weapons."

        I said again,--

        "'T is only a stick.'

        He then reached for it, when I stepped back and struck him a heavy blow on the arm. It fell as if broken; I think it was. Then he turned and ran, and I after him. As he ran, he would look back over his shoulder, see me coming, and then run faster, and halloo with all his might. I could not catch him, and it seemed, that, the longer he ran, the faster he went. The other two took to their heels at the first alarm,--thus illustrating the valor of the chivalry!

        At last I gave up the chase. The whole neighborhood by that time was aroused, and we thought best to retrace our steps to the place whence we started. Then we took a roundabout course until we reached the railroad, along which we travelled. For a long distance there was unusual stir and commotion. Every house was lighted up; and we heard people talking and horses galloping this way and that way, with other evidences of unusual excitement. This was between one and two o'clock in the morning. We walked on a long distance before we lost the sounds; but about four o'clock the same morning, entered York, where we remained during the day.

        Once in York, we thought we should be safe, but were mistaken. A similar mistake is often made by fugitives. Not accustomed to travelling, and unacquainted with the facilities for communication, they think that a few hours' walk is a long journey, and foolishly suppose, that, if they have few opportunities of knowledge, their masters can have none at all at such great distances. But our ideas of security were materially lessened when we met with a friend during the day, who advised us to proceed farther, as we were not out of imminent danger.

        According to this advice we started that night for Columbia. Going along in the dark, we heard persons following. We went very near to the fence, that they might pass without observing us. There were two, apparently in earnest conversation. The one who spoke so as to be distinctly heard we discovered to be Master Mack's brother-in-law. He remarked to his companion that they must hurry and get to the bridge before we crossed. He knew that we had not gone over yet. We were then near enough to have killed them, concealed as we were by the darkness; but we permitted them to pass unmolested, and went on to Wrightsville that night.

        The next morning we arrived at Columbia before it was light, and fortunately without crossing the bridge, for we were taken over in a boat. At Wrightsville we met a woman with whom we were before acquainted, and our meeting was very gratifying, We there inclined to halt for a time.

        I was not used to living in town, and preferred a home in the country; so to the country we decided to go. After resting for four days, we started towards Lancaster to try to procure work. I got a place about five miles from Lancaster, and then set to work in earnest.

        While a slave, I was, as it were, groping in the dark, no ray of light penetrating the intense gloom surrounding me. My scanty garments felt too tight for me, my very respiration seemed to be restrained by some supernatural power. Now, free as I supposed, I felt like a bird on a pleasant May morning. Instead of the darkness of slavery, my eyes were almost blinded by the light of freedom.

        Those were memorable days, and yet much of this was boyish fancy. After a few years of life in a Free State, the enthusiasm of the lad materially sobered down, and I found, by bitter experience, that to preserve my stolen liberty I must pay, unremittingly, an almost sleepless vigilance; yet to this day I have never looked back regretfully to Old Maryland, nor yearned for her flesh-pots.

        I have said I engaged to work; I hired my services for three months for the round sum of three dollars per month. I thought this an immense sum. Fast work was no trouble to me; for when the work was done, the money was mine. That was a great consideration. I could go out on Saturdays and Sundays, and home when I pleased, without being whipped. I thought of my fellow-servants left behind, bound in the chains of slavery,--and I was free! I thought, that, if I had the power, they should soon be as free as I was; and I formed a resolution that I would assist in liberating every one within my reach at the risk of my life, and that I would devise some plan for their entire liberation.

        My brother went about fifteen miles farther on, and also got employment. I "put in" three months with my employer, "lifted" my wages, and then went to visit my brother. He lived in Bart Township, near Smyrna; and after my visit was over, I engaged to work for a Dr. Dengy, living near by. I remained with him thirteen months. I never have been better treated than by the Doctor; I liked him and the family, and they seemed to think well of me.

        While living with Dr. Dengy, I had, for the first time, the great privilege of seeing that true friend of the slave, William Lloyd Garrison, who came into the neighborhood, accompanied by Frederick Douglass. They were holding anti-slavery meetings. I shall never forget the impression that Garrison's glowing words made upon me. I had formerly known Mr. Douglass as a slave in Maryland; I was therefore not prepared for the progress he then showed, neither for his free-spoken and manly language against slavery. I listened with the intense satisfaction that only a refugee could feel, when hearing, embodied in earnest, well-chosen, and strong speech, his own crude ideas of freedom, and his own hearty censure of the man-stealer. I believed, I knew, every word he said was true. It was the whole truth,--nothing kept back,--no trifling with human rights, no trading in the blood of the slave extenuated, nothing against the slaveholder said in malice. I have never listened to words from the lips of mortal man which were more acceptable to me; and although privileged since then to hear many able and good men speak on slavery, no doctrine has seemed to me so pure, so unworldly, as his. I may here say, and without offence, I trust, that, since that time, I have had a long experience of Garrisonian Abolitionists, and have always found them men and women with hearts in their bodies. They are, indeed and in truth, the poor slave's friend. To shelter him, to feed and clothe him, to help him on to freedom, I have ever found them ready; and I should be wanting in gratitude, if I neglected this opportunity--the only one I may ever have--to say thus much of them, and to declare for myself and for the many colored men in this free country whom I know they have aided in their journey to freedom, our humble confidence in them. Yes, the good spirit with which he is imbued constrained William Lloyd Garrison to plead for the dumb; and for his earnest pleadings all these years, I say, God bless him! By agitation, by example, by suffering, men and women of like spirit have been led to adopt his views, as the great necessity, and to carry them out into actions. They, too, have my heartfelt gratitude. They, like Gideon's band, though few, will yet rout the enemy Slavery, make him flee his own camp, and eventually fall upon his own sword. *

        One day, while living at Dr. Dengy's, I was working in the barn-yard, when a man came to the fence, and, looking at me intently, went away. The Doctor's son, observing him, said,--

        "Parker, that man, from his movements, must be a slaveholder or kidnapper. This is the second time he has been looking at you. If not a kidnapper, why does he look so steadily at you and not tell his errand?"

        I said,--

        "The man must be a fool! If he should come back and not say anything to me, I shall say something to him."

        We then looked down the road and saw him coming again. He rode up to the same place and halted. I then went to the fence, and, looking him steadily in the eye, said,--

        "Am I your slave?"

        He made no reply, but turned his horse and rode off, at full speed, towards the valley. We did not see him again; but that same evening word was brought that kidnappers were in the valley, and if we were not careful, they would "hook" some of us. This caused a great excitement among the colored people of the neighborhood.

        A short while prior to this, a number of us had formed an organization for mutual protection against slaveholders and kidnappers, and had resolved to prevent any of our brethren being taken back into slavery, at the risk of our own lives. We collected together that evening, and went down to the valley; but the kidnappers had gone. We watched for them several nights in succession, without result; for so much alarmed were the tavern-keepers by our demonstration, that they refused to let them stop over night with them. Kidnapping was so common, while I lived with the Doctor, that we were kept in constant fear. We would hear of slaveholders or kidnappers every two or three weeks; sometimes a party of white men would break into a house and take a man away, no one knew where; and, again, a whole family would be carried off. There was no power to protect them, nor prevent it. So completely roused were my feelings, that I vowed to let no slaveholder take back a fugitive, if I could but get my eye on him.

* * *

A short time after the events narrated in the preceding number, it was whispered about that the slaveholders intended to make an attack on my house; but, as I had often been threatened, I gave the report little attention. About the same time, however, two letters were found thrown carelessly about, as if to attract notice. These letters stated that kidnappers would be at my house on a certain night, and warned me to be on my guard. Still I did not let the matter trouble me. But it was no idle rumor. The bloodhounds were upon my track.

        I was not at this time aware that in the city of Philadelphia there was a band of devoted, determined men,--few in number, but strong in purpose,--who were fully resolved to leave no means untried to thwart the barbarous and inhuman monsters who crawled in the gloom of midnight, like the ferocious tiger, and, stealthily springing on their unsuspecting victims, seized, bound, and hurled them into the ever open jaws of Slavery. Under the pretext of enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law, the slaveholders did not hesitate to violate all other laws made for the good government and protection of society, and converted the old State of Pennsylvania, so long the hope of the fleeing bondman, wearied and heartbroken, into a common hunting-ground for their human prey. But this little band of true patriots in Philadelphia united for the purpose of standing between the pursuer and the pursued, the kidnapper and his victim, and, regardless of all personal considerations, were ever on the alert, ready to sound the alarm to save their fellows from a fate far more to be dreaded than death. In this they had frequently succeeded, and many times had turned the hunter home bootless of his prey. They began their operations at the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, and had thoroughly examined all matters connected with it, and were perfectly cognizant of the plans adopted to carry out its provisions in Pennsylvania, and, through a correspondence with reliable persons in various sections of the South, were enabled to know these hunters of men, their agents, spies, tools, and betrayers. They knew who performed this work in Richmond, Alexandria, Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Lancaster, and Harrisburg, those principal depots of villany, where organized bands prowled about at all times, ready to entrap the unwary fugitive.

        They also discovered that this nefarious business was conducted mainly through one channel; for, spite of man's inclination to vice and crime, there are but few men, thank God, so low in the scale of humanity as to be willing to degrade themselves by doing the dirty work of four-legged bloodhounds. Yet such men, actuated by the love of gold and their own base and brutal natures, were found ready for the work. These fellows consorted with constables, police-officers, aldermen, and even with learned members of the legal profession, who disgraced their respectable calling by low, contemptible arts, and were willing to clasp hands with the lowest ruffian in order to pocket the reward that was the price of blood. Every facility was offered these bad men; and whether it was night or day, it was only necessary to whisper in a certain circle that a negro was to be caught, and horses and wagons, men and officers, spies and betrayers, were ready, at the shortest notice, armed and equipped, and eager for the chase.

        Thus matters stood in Philadelphia on the 9th of September, 1851, when Mr. Gorsuch and his gang of Maryland kidnappers arrived there. Their presence was soon known to the little band of true men who were called "The Special Secret Committee." They had agents faithful and true as steel; and through these agents the whereabouts and business of Gorsuch and his minions were soon discovered. They were noticed in close converse with a certain member of the Philadelphia bar, who had lost the little reputation he ever had by continual dabbling in negro-catching, as well as by association with and support of the notorious Henry H. Kline, a professional kidnapper of the basest stamp. Having determined as to the character and object of these Marylanders, there remained to ascertain the spot selected for their deadly spring; and this required no small degree of shrewdness, resolution, and tact.

        Some one's liberty was imperilled; the hunters were abroad; the time was short, and the risk imminent. The little band bent themselves to the task they were pledged to perform with zeal and devotion; and success attended their efforts. They knew that one false step would jeopardize their own liberty, and very likely their lives, and utterly destroy every prospect of carrying out their objects. They knew, too, that they were matched against the most desperate, daring, and brutal men in the kidnappers' ranks,--men who, to obtain the proffered reward, would rush willingly into any enterprise, regardless alike of its character or its consequences. That this was the deepest, the most thoroughly organized and best-planned project for man-catching that had been concocted since the infamous Fugitive Slave Law had gone into operation, they also knew; and consequently this nest of hornets was approached with great care. But by walking directly into their camp, watching their plans as they were developed, and secretly testing every inch of ground on which they trod, they discovered enough to counterplot these plotters, and to spring upon them a mine which shook the whole country, and put an end to man-stealing in Pennsylvania forever.

        The trusty agent of this Special Committee, Mr. Samuel Williams, of Philadelphia,--a man true and faithful to his race, and courageous in the highest degree,--came to Christiana, travelling most of the way in company with the very men whom Gorsuch had employed to drag into slavery four as good men as ever trod the earth. These Philadelphia roughs, with their Maryland associates, little dreamed that the man who sat by their side carried with him their inglorious defeat, and the death-warrant of at least one of their party. Williams listened to their conversation, and marked well their faces, and, being fully satisfied by their awkward movements that they were heavily armed, managed to slip out of the cars at the village of Downington unobserved, and proceeded to Penningtonville, where he encountered Kline, who had started several hours in advance of the others. Kline was terribly frightened, as he knew Williams, and felt that his presence was an omen of ill to his base designs. He spoke of horse thieves; but Williams replied,--"I know the kind of horse thieves you are after. They are all gone; and you had better not go after them."

        Kline immediately jumped into his wagon, and rode away, whilst Williams crossed the country, and arrived at Christiana in advance of him.

        The manner in which information of Gorsuch's designs was obtained will probably ever remain a secret; and I doubt if any one outside of the little band who so masterly managed the affair knows anything of it. This was wise; and I would to God other friends had acted thus. Mr. Williams's trip to Christiana, and the many incidents connected therewith, will be found in the account of his trial; for he was subsequently arrested and thrown into the cold cells of a loathsome jail for this good act of simple Christian duty; but, resolute to the last, he publicly stated that he had been to Christiana, and, to use his own words, "I done it, and will do it again." Brave man, receive my thanks!

        Of the Special Committee I can only say that they proved themselves men; and through the darkest hours of the trials that followed, they were found faithful to their trust, never for one moment deserting those who were compelled to suffer. Many, many innocent men residing in the vicinity of Christiana, the ground where the first battle was fought for liberty in Pennsylvania, were seized, torn from their families, and, like Williams, thrown into prison for long, weary months, to be tried for their lives. By them this Committee stood, giving them every consolation and comfort, furnishing them with clothes, and attending to their wants, giving money to themselves and families, and procuring for them the best legal counsel. This I know, and much more of which it is not wise, even now, to speak: 't is enough to say they were friends when and where it cost something to be friends, and true brothers where brothers were needed.

        After this lengthy digression, I will return, and speak of the riot and the events immediately preceding it.

        The information brought by Mr. Williams spread through the vicinity like a fire in the prairies; and when I went home from my work in the evening, I found Pinckney (whom I should have said before was my brother-in-law), Abraham Johnson, Samuel Thompson, and Joshua Kite at my house, all of them excited about the rumor. I laughed at them, and said it was all talk. This was the 10th of September, 1851. They stopped for the night with us, and we went to bed as usual. Before daylight, Joshua Kite rose, and started for his home. Directly, he ran back to the house, burst open the door, crying, "O William! kidnappers! kidnappers!"

        He said that, when he was just beyond the yard, two men crossed before him, as if to stop him, and others came up on either side. As he said this, they had reached the door. Joshua ran up stairs, (we slept up stairs,) and they followed him; but I met them at the landing, and asked, "Who are you?"

        The leader, Kline, replied, "I am the United States Marshal."

        I then told him to take another step, and I would break his neck.

        He again said, "I am the United States Marshal."

        I told him I did not care for him nor the United States. At that he turned and went down stairs.

        Pinckney said, as he turned to go down,--"Where is the use in fighting? They will take us."

        Kline heard him, and said, "Yes, give up, for we can and will take you anyhow."

        I told them all not to be afraid, nor to give up to any slaveholder, but to fight until death.

        "Yes," said Kline, "I have heard many a negro talk as big as you, and then have taken him; and I'll take you."

        "You have not taken me yet," I replied; "and if you undertake it you will have your name recorded in history for this day's work."

        Mr. Gorsuch then spoke, and said,-- "Come, Mr. Kline, let's go up stairs and take them. We can take them. Come, follow me, I'll go up and get my property. What's in the way? The law is in my favor, and the people are in my favor."

        At that he began to ascend the stair; but I said to him,--"See here, old man, you can come up, but you can't go down again. Once up here, you are mine."

        Kline then said,--"Stop, Mr. Gorsuch. I will read the warrant, and then, I think, they will give up."

        He then read the warrant, and said, "Now, you see, we are commanded to take you, dead or alive; so you may as well give up at once."

        "Go up, Mr. Kline," then said Gorsuch, "you are the Marshal."

        Kline started, and when a little way up said, "I am coming."

        I said, "Well, come on."

        But he was too cowardly to show his face. He went down again and said,--"You had better give up without any more fuss, for we are bound to take you anyhow. I told you before that I was the United States Marshal, yet you will not give up. I'll not trouble the slaves. I will take you and make you pay for all."

        "Well," I answered, "take me and make me pay for all. I'll pay for all."

        Mr. Gorsuch then said, "You have my property."

        To which I replied,--"Go in the room down there, and see if there is anything there belonging to you. There are beds and a bureau, chairs, and other things. Then go out to the barn; there you will find a cow and some hogs. See if any of them are yours."

        He said,--"They are not mine; I want my men. They are here, and I am bound to have them."

        Thus we parleyed for a time, all because of the pusillanimity of the Marshal, when he, at last, said,--"I am tired waiting on you; I see you are not going to give up. Go to the barn and fetch some straw," said he to one of his men. "I will set the house on fire, and burn them up."

        "Burn us up and welcome," said I. "None but a coward would say the like. You can burn us, but you can't take us; before I give up, you will see my ashes scattered on the earth."

        By this time day had begun to dawn; and then my wife came to me and asked if she should blow the horn, to bring friends to our assistance. I assented, and she went to the garret for the purpose. When the horn sounded from the garret window, one of the ruffians asked the others what it meant; and Kline said to me, "What do you mean by blowing that horn?"

        I did not answer. It was a custom with us, when a horn was blown at an unusual hour, to proceed to the spot promptly to see what was the matter. Kline ordered his men to shoot any one they saw blowing the horn. There was a peach-tree at that end of the house. Up it two of the men climbed; and when my wife went a second time to the window, they fired as soon as they heard the blast, but missed their aim. My wife then went down on her knees, and, drawing her head and body below the range of the window, the horn resting on the sill, blew blast after blast, while the shots poured thick and fast around her. They must have fired ten or twelve times. The house was of stone, and the windows were deep, which alone preserved her life.

        They were evidently disconcerted by the blowing of the horn. Gorsuch said again, "I want my property, and I will have it."

        "Old man," said I, "you look as if you belonged to some persuasion."

        "Never mind," he answered, "what persuasion I belong to; I want my property."

        While I was leaning out of the window, Kline fired a pistol at me, but the shot went too high; the ball broke the glass just above my bead. I was talking to Gorsuch at the time. I seized a gun and aimed it at Gorsuch's breast for he evidently had instigated Kline to fire; but Pinckney caught my arm and said, "Don't shoot." The gun went off, just grazing Gorsuch's shoulder. Another conversation then ensued between Gorsuch, Kline, and myself, when another one of the party fired at me but missed. Dickinson Gorsuch, I then saw, was preparing to shoot; and I told him if he missed, I would show him where shooting first came from.

        I asked them to consider what they would have done, had they been in our position. "I know you want to kill us," I said, "for you have shot at us time and again. We have only fired twice, although we have guns and ammunition, and could kill you all if we would, but we do not want to shed blood."

        "If you do not shoot any more," then said Kline, "I will stop my men from firing."

        They then ceased for a time. This was about sunrise.

        Mr. Gorsuch now said,--"Give up and let me have my property. Hear what the Marshal says; the Marshal is your friend. He advises you to give up without more fuss, for my property I will have."

        I denied that I had his property, when he replied, "You have my men."

        "Am I your man?" I asked.

        "No."

        I then called Pinckney forward.

        "Is that your man?"

        "No."

        Abraham Johnson I called next, but Gorsuch said he was not his man.

        The only plan left was to call both Pinckney and Johnson again; for had I called the others, he would have recognized them, for they were his slaves.

        Abraham Johnson said, "Does such a shrivelled up old slaveholder as you own such a nice, genteel young man as I am?"

        At this Gorsuch took offence, and charged me with dictating his language. I then told him there were but five of us, which he denied, and still insisted that I had his property. One of the party then attacked the Abolitionists, affirming that, although they declared there could not be property in man, the Bible was conclusive authority in favor of property in human flesh.

        "Yes," said Gorsuch, "does not the Bible say, 'Servants, obey your masters'?"

        I said that it did, but the same Bible said, "Give unto your servants that which is just and equal."

        At this stage of the proceedings, we went into a mutual Scripture inquiry, and bandied views in the manner of garrulous old wives.

* * *

        It was now about seven o'clock.

        "You had better give up," said old Mr. Gorsuch, after another while, "and come down, for I have come a long way this morning, and want my breakfast; for my property I will have, or I'll breakfast in hell. I will go up and get it."

        He then started up stairs, and came far enough to see us all plainly. We were just about to fire upon him, when Dickinson Gorsuch, who was standing on the old oven, before the door, and could see into the up-stairs room through the window, jumped down and caught his father, saying,--"O father, do come down! do come down! They have guns, swords, and all kinds of weapons! They'll kill you! Do come down!"

        The old man turned and left. When down with him, young Gorsuch could scarce draw breath, and the father looked more like a dead than a living man, so frightened were they at their supposed danger. The old man stood some time without saying anything; at last he said, as if soliloquizing, "I want my property, and I will have it."

        Kline broke forth, "If you don't give up by fair means, you will have to by foul."

        I told him we would not surrender on any conditions.

        Young Gorsuch then said,--"Don't ask them to give up,--make them do it. We have money, and can call men to take them. What is it that money won't buy?"

        Then said Kline,--"I am getting tired waiting on you; I see you are not going to give up."

        He then wrote a note and handed it to Joshua Gorsuch, saying at the same time,--"Take it, and bring a hundred men from Lancaster."

        As he started, I said,--"See here! When you go to Lancaster, don't bring a hundred men,--bring five hundred. It will take all the men in Lancaster to change our purpose or take us alive."

        He stopped to confer with Kline, when Pinckney said, "We had better give up."

        "You are getting afraid," said I.

        "Yes," said Kline, "give up like men. The rest would give up if it were not for you."

        "I am not afraid," said Pinckney; "but where is the sense in fighting against so many men, and only five of us?"

        The whites, at this time, were coming from all quarters, and Kline was enrolling them as fast as they came. Their numbers alarmed Pinckney, and I told him to go and sit down; but he said, "No, I will go down stairs."

        I told him, if he attempted it, I should be compelled to blow out his brains. "Don't believe, that any living man can take you," I said. "Don't give up to any slaveholder."

        To Abraham Johnson, who was near me, I then turned. He declared he was not afraid. "I will fight till I die," he said.

        At this time, Hannah, Pinckney's wife, had become impatient of our persistent course; and my wife, who brought me her message urging us to surrender, seized a corn-cutter, and declared she would cut off the head of the first one who should attempt to give up.

        Another one of Gorsuch's slaves was coming along the highroad at this time, and I beckoned to him to go around. Pinckney saw him, and soon became more inspirited. Elijah Lewis, a Quaker, also came along about this time; I beckoned to him, likewise; but he came straight on, and was met by Kline, who ordered him to assist him. Lewis asked for his authority, and Kline handed him the warrant. While Lewis was reading, Castner Hanway came up, and Lewis handed the warrant to him. Lewis asked Kline what Parker said.

        Kline replied, "He won't give up."

        Then Lewis and Hanway both said to the Marshal,--"If Parker says they will not give up, you had better let them alone, for he will kill some of you. We are not going to risk our lives"; and they turned to go away.

        While they were talking, I came down and stood in the doorway, my men following behind.

        Old Mr. Gorsuch said, when I appeared, "They'll come out, and get away!" and he came back to the gate.

        I then said to him,--"You said you could and would take us. Now you have the chance."

        They were a cowardly-looking set of men.

        Mr., Gorsuch said, "You can't come out here."

        "Why?" said I. "This is my place. I pay rent for it. I'll let you see if I can't come out."

        "I don't care if you do pay rent for it," said he. "If you come out, I will give you the contents of these";--presenting, at the same time, two revolvers, one in each hand.

        I said, "Old man, if you don't go away, I will break your neck."

        I then walked up to where he stood, his arms resting on the gate, trembling as if afflicted with palsy, and laid my hand on his shoulder, saying, "I have seen pistols before to-day."

        Kline now came running up, and entreated Gorsuch to come away.

        "No," said the latter, "I will have my property, or go to hell."

        "What do you intend to do?" said Kline to me.

        "I intend to fight," said I. "I intend to try your strength."

        "If you will withdraw your men," he replied, "I will withdraw mine."

        I told him it was too late. "You would not withdraw when you had the chance, --you shall not now."

        Kline then went back to Hanway and Lewis. Gorsuch made a signal to his men, and they all fell into line. I followed his example as well as I could; but as we were not more than ten paces apart, it was difficult to do so. At this time we numbered but ten, while there were between thirty and forty of the white men.

        While I was talking to Gorsuch, his son said, "Father, will you take all this from a nigger?"

        I answered him by saying that I respected old age; but that, if he would repeat that, I should knock his teeth down his throat. At this he fired upon me, and I ran up to him and knocked the pistol out of his hand, when he let the other one fall and ran in the field.

        My brother-in-law, who was standing near, then said, "I can stop him";--and with his double-barrel gun he fired.

        Young Gorsuch fell, but rose and ran on again. Pinckney fired a second time, and again Gorsuch fell, but was soon up again, and, running into the cornfield, lay down in the fence corner.

        I returned to my men, and found Samuel Thompson talking to old Mr. Gorsuch, his master. They were both angry.

        "Old man, you had better go home to Maryland," said Samuel.

        "You had better give up, and come home with me," said the old man.

        Thompson took Pinckney's gun from struck Gorsuch, and brought him to his knees. Gorsuch rose and signalled to his men. Thompson then knocked him down again, and he again rose. At this time all the white men opened fire, and we rushed upon them; when they turned, threw down their guns, and ran away. We, being closely engaged clubbed our rifles. We were too closely pressed to fire, but we found a good deal could be done with empty guns.

        Old Mr. Gorsuch was the bravest of his party; he held on to his pistols until the last, while all the others threw away their weapons. I saw as many as three at a time fighting with him. Sometimes he was on his knees, then on his back, and again his feet would be where his head should be. He was a fine soldier and a brave man. Whenever he saw the least opportunity, he would take aim. While in close quarters with the whites, we could load and fire but two or three times. Our guns got bent and out of order. So damaged did they become, that we could shoot with but two or three of them. Samuel Thompson bent his gun on old Mr. Gorsuch so badly, that it was of no use to us.

Source: http://docsouth.unc.edu/parker/parker.html

Second-day morn

My Dear Aunt

I hardly know how to begin to write to thee we have passed through so much since I last sent my note to thee over the mountains I expect thee has read in the papers of the sorrowful tragedy that has happened at Parkers it took place 5th day morn before day I never experienced such feelings we were almost frantic I feared [illegible] for mother thinking it was enough to kill her and after the fighting was over Levi went over but soon returned bringing us word of the death of the old man and that his son was badly if not mortally wounded and proposed bringing him to our house which we consented to We dispatched a person for the Dr. and had him brought over in a carriage his life was despaired of until yesterday the Dr. think now he may recover with careful nursing. It has caused much distress in this neighborhood as there are many of our white neighbors arrested and sent to jail on account of their thoughtlessly running to the scene of battle fortunately not one of our family left the house but remained at home. The county is one scene of confusion. The Marshals and police are here from Lancaster and Philadelphia and 50 Marines with the United States troops are stationed in Christiana I expect there was a hundred police with commissions and officers around our house that day making [illegible] our house seems more like a public one than anything else we can count and ten carriages [illegible] in front of our house at a time [illegible] horseback company—last evening our house was completely filled partly with Southerners There never has been such an excitement in our county they being one of the first families of Maryland We do feel deeply interested in the young gentleman who is here he seems as mild and gentle as out Levi we all feel much attached to him Oh [illegible] I wish Levi(?) was here indeed we feel so sad in can hardly keep up it almost seems wrong for the sun to shine on such misery as there is in this neighborhood Ella and I went out on the balcony last night it was one of the most beautiful moonlight nights I ever hazed on we felt better we trusted one who cause the moon to shine so peacefully would in his time cause light to shine on our path.

This is a sad letter dear aunt but I cannot write different give my love to John and Martha Joseph and Jane and accept a large portion for thyself

thy sincerely attached,

Lizzi

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“If this be Treason, make the most of it.”

On Thursday last, after a prolonged hearing of the case, Alderman J. FRANKLING REIGART committed the thirteen prisoners charged with participation in the Christiana homicide to answer for the offence of high treason against the United States . The testimony taken will be found in our columns this morning. Such an event had, of course, been anticipated. It was pre-ordained. The District Attorney had placed that catastrophe at the end of his programme of proceeding. His Honor Judge KANE did his share in preparing the public mind for that issue by charging the Grand Jury of the term upon the nature and penalties of high treason. Everything pointed to such a determination, and Alderman J. FRANKLIN REIGART has no more claim to merit for the part he played, than the obscurest tipstave in the Aldermanic court. He was the mere mechanical watch-hand, which pointed the right hour in consequence of the working of the springs and balance-wheels beneath.

Far be it from us to censure the legal judgments of the eminent authorities referred to. But we must show what stupid fools COKE, and BLACKSTONE were; and how absurdly wide of sense the common law of England wanders. High treason, according to the statue 24, Edw. III., c. 2, declarative of the common law upon the point, consists in levying war against the King . In the interpretation of the definition all the judicial authorities and all commentators of England have agreed. The crime requires an intention to overthrow the Government. Passive resistance, or even armed resistance, to any particular act of Government, constitutes nothing more than a misdemeanor. The design must be general . The design of pulling down all the jails in the county, for instance, would amount to high treason, by what is considered among the weightiest commentators as a forced and unnatural construction of the law. But a design of destroying a half-dozen particular jails would constitute a riot, and be punishable as a misdemeanor. And so a resistance to all the laws of the State, if a design to overthrow the Government of the State be provable as the basis of it, amounts to high treason; but if no such motive be demonstrable, the offense is relieved of any higher degree of criminality than that of a mere rioting resistance of the law. There can be no room for doubt about the meaning of the common law. There must be an avowed and not merely constructive design of overthrowing the existing government. If there be no such design, there is no treason.

Now the evidence upon which the commitment was made out against the thirteen persons, was solely the testimony of Henry M. Kline , deputy Marshal, and that of a colored boy, Scott , who turned State's evidence, but whose presence at all at the riot is more than doubtful. Their testimony is conflicting, and is rebutted in very many essential particulars by a number of reliable witnesses. Alibis were distinctly proved in the cases of prisoners Morgan and Sims, charged with the murder of Mr. Gorsuch, upon the single testimony of Young Scott. There was nothing brought to light against the white men, Lewis and Haneway, further than that they were spectators of the scene, and when requested by Kline to assist in arresting the fugitives, replied that they did not choose to do so; that the force was inadequate and the attempt impossible in the face of seventy or eighty armed negroes. There was nothing but the testimony of Kline, to show the presence or aid of the remaining prisoners. There was no attempt to prove a preconcerted design of resistance. On the contrary, it appeared that negroes had been carried off within a short time previous by kidnappers; and that the mob gathered upon the supposition that Parker, a negro well known to be a free man, was the object of the officer's search. In short, there was not one element of the Common Law crime of Treason proved at all, and certainly not proved against the prisoners. The evidence would support an allegation of murder; of a riotous and most gross resistance of law; of crimes, in fact, amply sufficient in the punishment annexed to them to satify the most violent appetite for vengeance; but nothing can justify a commitment for treason as defined by English jurists.

But the legal gentlemen who have this business in hand, have resolved that treason it is, and treason it is to be. We fear that in stretching the offense too far the criminals may escape. We claim their punishment whoever they are. They are guilty of a terrible crime, and of misdemeanors, the penalty of which should be most exemplary. It is full time this spirit of insubordination to law should be checked. To check it, the nature of the crime to which the sanction is appended should be distinctly understood; the benefit of the example is lost if we disguise the offense under an improper title. This we do when we miscall murder and riot high treason; and if the criminals in the Christiana riot and murder do not reap their reward, we may thank the mistaken zeal of the prosecutors. It would have been wiser to have trusted the loyalty of the State tribunals in vindicating the laws, than to forcibly place the affair within federal jurisdiction by a wilful exaggeration of the offense. Besides, people will suspect that the already expressed opinions of Judge Kane have something to do with the transfer of the case of his jurisdiction; and popular confidence in the fairness of the proceedings receives a further shock. The zeal should have been more largely tempered with discretion. They fancied a case of treason and are bent on making the most of it. The result will probably be comparative impunity to the guilty.
______________

Excerpts from the Trial Transcript of
United States v. Hanway
November 24 – December 11, 1851
____________________________

Commencing in Philadelphia on Monday, November 24, 1851 , Castner Hanway stood trial for his role, or lack thereof, in the Christiana Resistance. What follows are excerpts of the trial transcript of United States v. Hanway .

John W. Ashmead: His Opening Statement

Ashmead summarizes the charges brought against Hanway:

“ First. --That on the 11th of September, 1851, in the County of Lancaster, and within the jurisdiction of this Court, the defendant, with a great number of persons, armed and arrayed in a war-like manner, with guns, swords and other weapons, assembled and traitorously combined to oppose and prevent by intimidation and violence, the execution of the laws of the United States already adverted to, and arrayed himself in a warlike manner against the said United States.

Second. --That at the same time and place, the said Castner Hanway assembled with others, with the avowed intention by force and intimidation to prevent the execution of the said laws to which I have alluded, and that in pursuance of this combination, he unlawfully and traitorously resisted and opposed Henry H. Kline, an officer duly appointed by Edward D. Ingraham, Esq., a Commissioner of the Circuit Court of the United States, from executing lawful process to him directed against certain persons charged before the Commissioner with being persons held to service or labor in the State of Maryland, owing such service and labor to a certain Edward Gorsuch, under the laws of the State of Maryland, who had escaped into the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Third. --That in further execution of his wicked design, the defendant assembled with certain persons who were armed and arrayed with the design, by means of intimidation and violence, to prevent the execution of the laws already alluded to, and being so assembled, knowingly and wilfully assaulted Henry H. Kline, the officer appointed by the Commissioner to execute his process, and then and there, against the will of the said Henry H. Kline, liberated and took out of his custody persons before that time arrested by him.

Fourth: That the defendant in pursuance of his traitorous combination and conspiracy to oppose and prevent the said laws of the United States from being carried into execution, conspired and agreed with others to oppose and prevent by force and intimidation, the execution of the said laws, and in the ways already described, did violently resist and oppose them

Fifth: That the defendant in pursuance of his combination to oppose and resist the said laws of the United States, prepared and composed divers books and pamphlets, and maliciously and traitorously distributed them, which books and pamphlets contained incitements and encouragements to induce and persuade persons held to service in any of the United States by the laws thereof, who had escaped into this district, as well as other persons, citizens of this district, to resist and oppose by violence and intimidation the execution of the said laws, and also containing instructions how, and upon what occasions the traitorous purposes should and ought to be carried into effect.”

Ashmead argues that there are legal ways to redress the fugitive slave law if a citizen finds it unappealing and depicts Gorsuch's murder as cold-blooded:

“If obnoxious acts of Congress are passed they can be changed or repealed. Hence this defendant, if he has perpetrated the offence charged in the indictment, has raised his hand without excuse or palliation against the freest government on the face of the earth. He has not only set its laws at defiance, by seeking to overturn them, and to render them inoperative and void; but the conspiracy into which he entered, assumed a deeper and more malignant dye, from the wanton manner, in which it was actually consummated. I allude to the murder in which it resulted. An honorable and worthy citizen of a neighboring State, who entered our Commonwealth, under the protection of the constitution and laws of the Union , for the purpose of claiming his property under due process of law, was mercilessly beaten and murdered, in consequence of the acts of the defendant and his associates.”

[Federal marshal] Henry H. Kline takes the stand:

Kline: In the mean while Mr. Hanway came up on horseback. The old gentleman, Mr. Edward Gorsuch, requested me to go and ask him to assist us. We found that there was a larger force in the house than we calculated. I came out of the house and went to the bars where Mr. Hanway was sitting on a sorrel horse, and went up to him and said, "Good morning, sir," and he made no reply. I then asked him his name, and he allowed it was none of my business. I then asked him if he lived in the neighborhood, and he made a remark in the same way. I then told him who I was, and showed him my authority. I took my papers out and handed them to him, and he read them.

Question: Did you hand him these papers? (The warrants.)

Kline: I did, and he read them not only once, but twice.

Question: What did you say to him at that time?

Kline: I told him I was Deputy Marshal, and came to arrest two fugitives belonging to Edward Gorsuch.

Question: When you told him that, what did he say?

Kline: He allowed that the colored people had a right to defend themselves. There was some fifteen or twenty standing there, as near as I can tell, with their guns loaded.

Question: Will you state to the Court again, exactly what Mr. Hanway said at that time?

Kline: After I got through telling him these things, who I was, and he had refused to assist me, I told him what the Act of Congress was, and urged him to assist me. After I had told him my warrants, he read them and handed them back, and he said the colored people had a right to defend themselves, and he was not going to help me, and I asked if he would keep them away, and he said No,--he would not have anything to do with them.

Ashmead: Had you any conversation with Mr. Hanway in regard to any law of Congress?

Kline: I had, sir. 

Ashmead: Be good enough to state to the Court and Jury what it was.

Kline: After he refused, I told him what the act of Congress was as near as I could tell him. That any person aiding or abetting a fugitive slave, and resisting an officer, the punishment was $1000 damages for the slave, and I think to the best of my knowledge imprisonment for five years. I told him that. He said he did not care for any act of Congress or any other law. That is what he said.

* * *

Mr. Theodore Cuyler delivers the opening argument for the defense:

“This defendant, gentlemen, is not here through his counsel to defend those sad deeds which disgraced the sweet and peaceful valley near Christiana on the 9th of September last, or by one unkind or reproachful word to open again the yet fresh wounds of any member of that family which suffered so deeply there. It is no part of his defence to defend those who took part in that conflict. His defence is simply that he was in no way a party to these outrages; but as a precaution, I shall pass beyond this line, and added to this, will open to you, that however grave and serious may be and is the offence of those who took part in those outrages, yet it does not amount to the offence charged in the indictment.”

“On the borders of Lancaster county there realties a band of miscreants, who are well known to the laws, and well known to the records of the Penitentiary in this State. They are professional kidnappers...These men by a series of a lawless and diabolical outrages, have invaded the peace of this valley--begetting dread in every household, and a general sense of insecurity in every home.”

“Treason shall consist only in levying war against the United States . Do the facts of the case sustain the charge?

Sir--Did you hear it? That three harmless, non-resisting Quakers, and eight-and-thirty wretched, miserable, penniless negroes, armed with corn-cutters, clubs, and a few muskets, and headed by a miller, in a felt hat, without a coat, without arms, and mounted on a sorrel nag, levied war against the United States.

Blessed be God that our Union has survived the shock.”

Elijah Lewis takes the stand:

Mr. Brent: When Hanway said to Kline he would have nothing to do with it, was not that in reply to Kline's request to assist him?

Lewis: It was.

Mr. Brent: When he requested him to assist him, his reply was, he would have nothing to do with it?

Lewis: Yes.

Isaac Rogers takes the stand:

Question: What did Mr. Hanway do?

Rogers : He turned on his critter and he says several times, "don't shoot, boys."

* * *

James R. Ludlow closes the Prosecution's case:

“But I may here notice, what perhaps was intended to weigh with the jury--that this man Hanway--the miller in his shirt sleeves, and with the felt hat on, intended to levy war against the United States . Sir, it struck me painfully--ridiculous as the description seemed--it struck me painfully, when I remembered, that within a few feet of that same miller, lay a man--dead--and within six hundred yards of him was another, riddled with shot, and sir, in addition to that--if the evidence for the prosecution is to be believed--that that man had instigated these blacks to do these deeds of horror. You need not tell me, that to lead a set of conspirators, you are to be armed and arrayed in all the panoply of war. It is not law nor fact. Their general left them when his own life was in danger, but he commanded them as efficiently while upon the ground; they knew him in his every day dress.”

“What would be the conduct of a guilty man upon that occasion? If he had been an ignorant one, we can easily perceive what he would have done. He would have rushed, as did these blacks, right into the middle of the fight, he would by some overt, positive act, have convicted himself upon the spot. But with all the shrewdness of a leader, he just so far mingles in the affray, as to direct it, and the moment he has started the attack he makes good his escape.”

Mr. Lewis closes the case for the defense:

“The whole prosecution, gentlemen, is founded upon a mistaken idea; that idea seems to be, that in this township of Sadsbury there prevails an unwholesome and unpatriotic spirit, or I should rather say sentiment, upon the subject of the Fugitive Slave Law, and that Castner Hanway is one of those who cherishes the bane of these opinions, and that therefore he was fitted to become a sacrifice to the spirit of concord. Now, gentlemen, nothing of this kind appears in the evidence at all; it supplies us with no facts upon which such an idea can be based. The evidence leaves us here, and the truth leaves us here; without any ground whatever for the suspicion that Mr. Hanway belongs to any sect or any class which have set themselves in opposition to this law, or who cherish opinions that are adverse to its execution.”

“Can it be that it is expected to terrify the people of the north, or the people of Pennsylvania, from looking on whenever any attempt is made to arrest blacks, whether fleeing from slavery, or expected to be fleeing from slavery--from looking on to see that no freeman is taken away, that they may have a free field to themselves? If this is the object, it is not such as Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvania does not deserve this treatment. She deserves it neither by her legislation, nor by the general feelings or sentiments of her people. She has always stood by the compromises of the constitution, not merely fairly, but with an inclination favorable to the south.”

“It ought always to be remembered, that this business of hunting down fugitives, is the business of the persons from whom they escape, peculiarly, and that we really have nothing to do with it. We have no interest in it--and if the scenes to which such man and woman hunting give rise, are revolting to the sensibilities of our people, it is too much to expect them to assist, and they cannot and will not be frightened into it by prosecutions for treason.

You may irritate and exasperate public feeling, but you cannot make active slave catchers of any respectable men in Pennsylvania , even by threats of the gallows.

If, therefore, the object of this prosecution is to drive our people into an active pursuit of such slaves as may happen to come into our State, it must fail. It cannot and ought not to succeed in the accomplishment of any such object. They will not chase frightened men and women, though they be black, from wood to wood, and from hill to hill, with fire arms and bludgeons, to the great alarm of peaceful neighborhoods, and the scandal of human society.”

“Throw Kline out, and there is not a word in the testimony of any one witness, to inculpate the prisoner in a single impropriety, in word or act. And ought he not to be thrown out? To his cowardice is owing this whole tragedy. Had he kept his force together, and withdrawn them in a body from the ground, there is no probability of their being assailed. After three of the seven, who constituted the force that went to execute the warrants, had retired, the danger was greatly increased, and yet it appears, that even then, if it had not been that Mr. Gorsuch after retreating some sixty yards from the house, had not attempted to return to make the intended arrest, nothing serious could have happened. It was that attempt that exasperated the negroes, and brought about the conflict.”

“If the issue were on the Fugitive Slave Law, and the question here was, whether Mr. Hanway disapproved it; he could not be convicted even of that offence--if offence it may be permitted to call it. Let me ask you, can any one of you say, from any thing you can have heard here, that Castner Hanway has any opinion either one way or the other on that subject. Yet, though he disapproved of that law, I trust there is still some space between that and treason. We are not here to try that law, or to try him for his opinions about it.”

* * *

Charge to the jury by Justice Robert Cooper Grier (December 11, 1851):

Without desiring to invade the prerogatives of the jury in judging the facts of this case, the Court feel bound to say, that they do not think the transaction with which the prisoner is charged with being connected, rises to the dignity of treason or levying war. Not because the numbers or force was insufficient. But 1st, For want of any proof of previous conspiracy to make a general and public resistance to any law of the United States . 2ndly, Because there is no evidence that any person concerned in the transaction knew there were such acts of Congress, as those with which they were charged with conspiring to resist by force and arms, or had any other intention than to protect one another from what they termed kidnappers (by which slang term they probably included not only actual kidnappers, but all masters and owners seeking to recapture their slaves, and the officers and agents assisting therein).

The testimony of the prosecution shows that notice had been given that certain fugitives were pursued; the riot, insurrection, tumult, or whatever you may call it, was but a sudden `conclamatio' or running together, to prevent the capture of certain of their friends or companions, or to rescue them if arrested. Previous to this transaction, so far as we are informed, no attempt had been made to arrest fugitives in the neighborhood under the new act of Congress by a public officer. Heretofore arrests had been made by the owner in person, or his agent properly authorized, or by an officer of the law. Individuals without any authority, but incited by cupidity, and the hope of obtaining the reward offered for the return of a fugitive, had heretofore under- taken to seize them by force and violence, to invade the sanctity of private dwellings at night, and insult the feeling and prejudices of the people. It is not to be wondered at that a people subject to such inroads, should consider odious the perpetrators of such deeds and denominate them kidnappers--and that the subjects of this treatment should have been encouraged in resisting such aggressions, where the rightful claimant could not be distinguished from the odious kidnapper, or the fact be ascertained whether the person seized, deported or stolen in this manner, was a free man or a slave. But the existence of such feelings is no evidence of a determination or conspiracy by the people to publicly resist any legislation of Congress, or levy war against the United States . That in consequence of such
excitement, such an outrage should have been committed, is deeply to be deplored. That the persons engaged in it are guilty of aggravated riot and murder cannot be denied. But riot and murder are offences against the State Government. It would be a dangerous precedent for the Court and jury in this case to extend the crime of treason by construction to doubtful cases."

When the case adjourned, the jury took about fifteen minutes to return with a verdict. Hanway was acquitted.

The following excerpt appeared in Frederick Douglass' Paper (Rochester , NY) on March 4, 1852, detailing activities of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee in the aftermath of the Christiana Riot of 1851. 

"The Committee have expended the following amount:

Paid to several Council, $200

For board, clothing, Medical Attendance, and passage to Canada of Geo. Williams, Jacob Moore, and their families, $125

Expended for the 25 prisoners during their four months of confinement, $150

Paid to Dr. A. Cain, $30, Joseph Benn, $20, Josiah Clarkson, $10 (to be distributed among the prisoners' families)

For board & incidental expenses of witnesses during the trials, $95

_____

$630

_____

Amount of Receipts, $689.41

Expenses, $630

Balance in hand, $59.41

There are several families not yet cared for. The committee return thanks to dealers in clothing on Second street , for the contributions so much needed, amounting to some one hundred and twenty-five pieces of clothing.

NATH'L. W. DEPEE, Secretary.

February 10, 1852