THE BOSTON MOB.- Deputy Marshal Riley has made a statement
in regard to the mob which rescued the fugitive slave in Boston. Marshal Devens
was absent from the city at the time of the arrest and rescue. The requests
of the Deputy Marshal to the Mayor and city authorities for assistance against
the mob, were unheeded, and the individual officers appealed to, found reasons
for refusing to assist in the affair, in the state law of 1843, which prohibits
all officers of the commonwealth from engaging under severe penalties in the
arrest, detention, or imprisonment of a fugitive slave. This law refusing the
use of the State jails or prisons for U. S. purposes, obliged the Marsh to keep
the prisoners in the Court House. The Deputy Marshal had sent word to Commander
Downes, at the Charlestown Navy Yard to furnish provision for his imprisonment
there, but he did not consider himself authorized to grant it. The sword of
the Deputy Marshal was not wrenched from his hand, but was taken from the desk,
where it lay, and thrown into the street. According to the provisions of the
fugitive slave law, the Marshal is responsible for the loss of the fugitive,
and if the claimant insists, he must pay him the value of the slave. The Mayor
and city Marshal have published statements tending to exculpate themselves from
all blame in the affair. The Mayor and city Marshal have also issued orders
that in case of any more such breaches of the peace, that the Police force of
the city be put in requisition to preserve the peace and the sanctity of the
laws.
Elizur arrested for being engaged in the mob. Wright has been examined and
bound over in the sum of $2,000 for trial before the U. States Court in March.
A special dispatch from Boston to the New York Tribune, states that is is a
well ascertained fact that more warrants have been issued for fugitive slaves,
and that the colored citizens are believed to be thoroughly organized and armed.
The dispatch further states that a new military association is about to be formed
there, to be called the "Liberty League." More than 100 of the most
influential and able-bodied young men in the city are pledged to join it, for
the purpose of opposing the fugitive slave law. Shadrich, the escaped fugitive,
is now in Canada. He left the city by private conveyance, and on Sunday morning
was received at the house of an abolitionist in Western Massachusetts, where
he knelt and returned thanks for his deliverance, before he would partake of
his breakfast. In the evening he attended an anti-slavery meeting in female
attire, and remained unsuspected by the audience, while his arrest rescue were
the subjects of discussion.
Two more persons were arrested on Friday. |