Virginia Hamilton

Read Virginia Hamilton Online

Authors: Anthony Burns: The Defeat,Triumph of a Fugitive Slave

Tags: #Fugitive Slaves, #Antislavery Movements

BOOK: Virginia Hamilton
3.9Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Anthony Burns
The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave

Virginia Hamilton

IN MEMORY OF
ANTHONY BURNS

Contents

List of Characters

1 • May 24, 1854

2 • Spring 1839

3 • May 24, 1854

4 • Summer 1841

5 • May 25, 1854

6 • May 25, 1854

7 • Winter 1846

8 • May 26, 1854

9 • May 26, 1854

10 • Winter 1846

11 • May 26, 1854

12 • May 27, 1854

13 • May 28, 1854

14 • 1846-1847

15 • May 29, 1854

16 • Winter 1854

17 • May 29, 1854

18 • May 31, 1854

19 • June 1, 1854

20 • June 2, 1854

Epilogue

Afterword

Selections from the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

A Biography of Virginia Hamilton

Bibliography

Index

       
THE ABOLITIONIST HYMN

We ask not that the slave should lie

As lies his master, at his ease
,

Beneath a silken canopy
,

Or in the shade of blooming trees
.

We ask not “eye for eye,” that all

Who forge the chain and ply the whip

Should feel their torture, while the slave

Should wield the scourge of mastership.

We mourn not that the man should toil
,

'Tis nature's need, 'tis God's decree;

But let the hand that tills the soil

Be, like the wind that fans it, free
.

—
ANONYMOUS

List of Characters

R. A. B
ALL
Minister, St. Catharines, Canada
P. T. B
ARNUM
The showman, owner of Barnum's Hotel and Circus
J
AMES
B
ATCHELDER
The Marshal's guard killed during the storming of Boston Court House
W
ILLIAM
B
RENT
Southerner, Colonel Suttle's slave agent
H
ORACE
W. B
ROWN
Witness, police officer, former carpenter
A
NTHONY
B
URNS
Fugitive slave who ran away from Virginia to Boston, Massachusetts
A
SA
B
UTMAN
Deputy U.S. Marshal known for capturing fugitive slaves
E
BENEZER
C
ALDWELL
Slave owner
C
OLONEL
C
OOPER
Adjutant of the Army under orders of the President of the United States
C
AL
C
ROSS
Sailor, friend of Anthony Burns
R
ICHARD
H
ENRY
D
ANA
Abolitionist lawyer for Anthony Burns
A
RCHIBALD
D
AVENPORT
Slave owner
G
EORGE
H. D
REW
Bookkeeper at Mattapan Works, South Boston
M
AJOR
G
ENERAL
B. F. E
DMANDS
Commander of all the Federal battalions and regiments in Boston
E
FRUM
Slave owned by Charles Suttle
C
HARLES
M
AYO
E
LLIS
Abolitionist lawyer for Anthony Burns
J
OHN
F
AVOR
Witness, carpenter
M
R. AND
M
RS.
(M
ISSY
) F
OOTE
Slave owners
W
ATSON
F
REEMAN
U.S. Marshal in charge of prisoner Anthony Burns
C
YRUS
G
OULD
Witness, William Jones's employer
L
EONARD
G
RIMES
Pastor of the 12th Baptist Church of Boston, known as the fugitive slave church
B
ENJAMIN
F. H
ALLETT
U.S. District Attorney
T
HOMAS
W
ENTWORTH
H
IGGINSON
Minister and abolitionist from Worcester, Massachusetts
S
AMUEL
G. H
OWE
Philanthropist and historian
S
ISTER
J
ANETY
Slave owned by John Suttle, sister of Anthony Burns
W
ILLIAM
J
ONES
Witness, employer of Anthony Burns at Mattapan Works, South Boston
E
DWARD
G
REELEY
L
ORING
Judge of Probate, Commissioner for taking bail and affidavits, presiding over slave cases
R
OBERT
L
UMPKIN
Slave trader, owner of Lumpkin's Jail
L
UTHER
Slave owned by Charles Suttle
M
AMAW
Slave owned by John Suttle, mother of Anthony Burns
M
AUDE
M
AW
Slave, a “two-head”: a seer said to know the future
M
r. and
M
RS.
D
AVID
M
C
D
ANIEL
Slave owners
M
R.
M
ILLSPAUGH
Druggist, hired Anthony Burns in Richmond, Virginia
R
OBERT
M
ORRISS
Abolitionist lawyer
E
DWARD
G. P
ARKER
Lawyer for Charles Suttle
T
HEODORE
P
ARKER
Abolitionist, minister of 28
th
Congregational Society, Tremont Temple
W
ENDELL
P
HILLIPS
Abolitionist lawyer, orator, and crusader for human rights
F
RANKLIN
P
IERCE
14th President of the United States, 1853-57
C
OFFIN
P
ITTS
Deacon, 12th Baptist Church of Boston, friend and employer of Anthony Burns
D
EPUTY
M
ARSHAL
J
OHN
H. R
ILEY
One of the Marshal's men guarding Anthony Burns
M
R.
R
USSELL
Employer of William Jones
G
EORGE
R. R
USSELL
Presiding at Faneuil Hall public meeting, Friday, May 26, 1854
S
HADRACH
Fugitive slave, captured but escaped from Boston Court House, 1851
S
IMON
Slave owned by Charles Suttle
T
HOMAS
S
IMS
Fugitive slave, captured by Asa Butman in 1851, tried and returned to slavery
J.V.C. S
MITH
Mayor of Boston
G. S. S
TOCKWELL
Northern minister who discovered whereabouts of Anthony Burns, 1855
M
ARTIN
S
TOWELL
Abolitionist from Worcester, Massachusetts
C
HARLES
F. S
UTTLE
Son of John Suttle, Colonel in Virginia Militia, owner of Anthony Burns
J
OHN
S
UTTLE
Called he Mars, father of Charles Suttle, owner of child Anthony Burns, Mamaw, Big Walker, Janety, etc.
M
ISTRESS
S
UTTLE
Called she Missy, wife of John Suttle, owner of slaves
J
OHN
S
WIFT
Young lawyer
S
ETH
J. T
HOMAS
Lawyer for Charles Suttle
B
EN
T
RUE
Witness, guard over Anthony Burns
B
IG
W
ALKER
Possibly Anthony Burns's father; driver, or foreman, of John Suttle's slaves
J
AMES
T. W
HITTEMORE
Witness; member, Boston City Council, and a lieutenant in the Pulaski Guards
W
HITTOM
Slave owned by Charles Suttle

1
May 24, 1854

“HOLD ON, BOY!”
A harsh voice called to him from the
dim light on Brattle Street.

He held himself in and managed to sound calm when he asked, “What do you want of me?”

“They say a boy broke into the jewelry store,” the man said, and walked nearer. “About twenty hours ago it was that a boy took a valuable piece of silver. And you look like the same boy.”

“I never stole in my life!” he exclaimed. He knew he couldn't have been the one. He was no boy. But something inside him cautioned,
Steal away to Jesus!
“I haven't ever stole,” he said evenly.

“Let's just see about it, m'boy,” the man said. “Let's just walk down to the Court House.”

He panicked and started to run. Men came out of the shadows to surround him. He bolted, but they caught him and lifted him off his feet. They carried him like a corpse at the height of their shoulders. He did next what he knew how to do: He closed his eyes and went far inside himself. Gripped tightly by these strangers
up on their shoulders, he stayed stiffly in their hands.

There seemed to be a leader and maybe six others. He thought, They are like pallbearers—am I a dead man? They've caught me, but I'm not a thief. They say I
stole
. I know I have stole nothing in my life!

He was innocent. That was why he had resisted and run. He'd been on the corner of Brattle and Court Streets, coming from his work at Mr. Pitts' clothing store. In view was Faneuil Hall, the old market building. It had been built with money earned from selling West Indian slaves. Now it was used by Christian abolitionists who in the present year, 1854, prayed and preached against slavery. So he had been told by his employer and friend, the freeman Coffin Pitts.

The men who had caught him continued to carry him on their shoulders to Boston Court Square and the Court House.

They've mixed me up with some poor soul, he was thinking. It's all a mistake. Keep yourself quiet, make no resistance, he told himself. He didn't move a muscle.

Breathing heavily, perspiring, the men took a moment's rest when they arrived at the Court House. Once inside, they stood him on his feet. He opened his eyes and looked at them hard just for a moment. They looked rough to him, like the lowest types; so did the leader.

They lifted him up again and carried him to a jury room on the third floor. There, with some relief, they set him down again.

He brushed and straightened his clothing to proper order and looked around for the jewelry
store owner; instead, he saw the door closing, shutting him in. There were iron bars set in the door. The windows, too, had iron bars over them. And the men who had carried him now stood silently to either side of the barred door.

Other books

The Standing Water by David Castleton
Picking Blueberries by Anna Tambour
Nearly Reach the Sky by Brian Williams
A Question of Magic by E. D. Baker
A Leap of Faith by T Gephart
Dark Coulee by Mary Logue