Two Weeks

A Lockport Man Kidnapped

On Thursday, April 4th, says the Cincinnati Gazette , a man who gave his name as Johnson, crossed the river from Cincinnati, having a negro servant with him, whom he represented as his property. As soon as the twain reached the City Clerk's office, on York street, some bystanders commenced to question the negro, when he denied being a slave; that his name was Chancellor Livingston, and that Johnson had hired him in Lockport, N. Y., to go to his farm near Lexington as a laborer, at the same time representing Kentucky as a free State. As soon as the by standers heard this state of the case, they suspected that Johnson was trying to kidnap the negro, and they determined to arrest him forthwith, but it was soon discovered that he had disappeared, and also that he had left the city. The negro was lodged in jail.

Livingston remained in prison nearly two weeks, and was at last liberated upon affidavits coming from Lockport, proving his story to be correct. He had a narrow escape, and has found out from experience that Kentucky is anything but a free State.

[Frederick] Douglass' Monthly, May, 1861