Preacher Arrested

In 1858 and later my parents often welcomed as guests at their home  at New London the Rev. George Gordon, president of Iberia College, and the Rev. Thomas Finney, also of that institution, on their way to and from Savannah, where they preached at the Free Presbyterian Church.  Mr. Gordon was highly esteemed for his piety, learning and talents, and an incident in his career may be worth relating.  On May 5, 1860, Grandison Martin, a slave, escaped from his master, Isaac Pollock, of Germantown, Kentucky, and fled to Iberia, Ohio [near Mansfield, between Columbus and Cleveland].  On September 20, 1860, Joseph S. Barber, a United States deputy marshal, attempted to arrest Martin, but was himself taken to the woods by indignant citizens and whipped.  Mr. Gordon was charged with having seen some of the blows inflicted without protesting; and for thus resisting a process in the hands of a deputy marshal, he was sentenced, Nov. 6, 1861, to be imprisoned six months in the jail of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and to pay a fine of $300 and the costs of prosecution.

from The Fireland Pioneer, a publication of the Firelands Historical Society, Vol. 22, p. 28. 1921. No author cited.