A Runaway Slave

Arrest of a Runaway Slave - Escape of Two Others

A Deputy Marshal Siezed, Beaten, and His Head Shaved

About four months ago three slaves, brothers, escaped from Messrs. Reed and Pollock, near Germantown, Kentucky.  It was subsequently ascertained that they had been located near Iberia, Morrow county, Ohio, [map] and warrants were issued for their arrest, and placed in the hands of the United States Marshal for the Southern District.  On Thursday the Marshal proceeded to the locality, accompanied by two deputies and some eight or ten men, and the negroes having separated, the posse divided into three parties, the Marshal giving full instructions to his deputies, who were men of nerve, and their assistants how to proceed.

Between seven and eight o'clock in the evening the marshal seized the negro for whom he had obtained a warrant, and after a walk of fourteen miles, placed him on board a freight train, and succeeded in reaching this city [Cincinnati].  An examination was had before Commissioner Newhall, and his identity being satisfactorily established, and the fact of his escape being proven, he was remanded to the custody of his former master, and taken across the river.  So far so good.

But the deputies were not as successful as their chief.  Neither succeeded in securing their man, and one of them was most inhumanly treated.  Soon after showing his warrant he was set upon by a crowd of negroes and white men, to the number of sixty or seventy, a part of whom were armed with guns and pistols.  The negro was liberated and the person of the deputy secured by the assailants.  His clothes were nearly torn off, and, amid shouts and oaths, he was beaten with clubs, to serve him, the crowd said, "as they treat slaves at the South."  The warrant and all his money were taken from him, and the mob endeavored to hang him, but failed to do so.  They then extended his arms and placed him as a mark for the bullets of those armed with guns.  The deputy begged them to shoot him, rather than torture him as they had done.  Those who were armed were drawn up when the word was given - "Make ready - take aim"  - but before the word "fire" was given, some of the mob rushed in and begged them not to fire.  The guns were dropped, and the deputy was liberated from his uncomfortable position.

Not satisfied with the indignity and pain already inflicted, a knife was sent for, and the hair of the officer was clipped close to his scalp, and he was turned loose to make his way out of the neighborhood, which he did with all convenient haste.

The second deputy also had a very serious time in attempting to serve his warrant, but we are not fully informed of the particulars. A number of the friends of the negro assembled, and when the officer attempted to arrest him, he was fired upon.  The officer returned the charge, and shot off the fingers of a negro, from one hand, but was compelled to leave the ground without securing his man.  There was also a rumor that two men had been shot, but we traced it to no reliable authority.  The matter will not rest where it is.

 

from the September 25, 1860 issue of the Louisville Daily Courier. reprinting an item from the Cincinnati Enquirer.