The case of the State against Sam Green (free negro) indicted
for having in his possession, papers, pamphlets and pictorial
representations, having a tendency to create discontent, etc.,
among the people of color in the State, was tried before the
court on Friday last.
This case was of the utmost importance, and has created in the
public mind a great deal of interest--it being the first case of
the kind ever having occurred in our country.
It appeared, in evidence, that this Green has a son in Canada,
to whom Green made a visit last summer. Since his return to this
county, suspicion has fastened upon him, as giving aid and
assisting slaves who have since absconded and reached Canada,
and several weeks ago, a party of gentlemen from New Market
district, went at night, to Green's house and made search,
whereupon was found a volume of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," a map of
Canada, several schedules of routes to the North, and a letter
from his son in Canada, detailing the pleasant trip he had, the
number of friends he met with on the way, with plenty to eat,
drink, etc., and concludes with a request to his father, that he
shall tell certain other slaves, naming them, to come on, which
slaves, it is well known, did leave shortly afterwards, and have
reached Canada. The case was argued with great ability, the
counsel on both sides displaying a great deal of ingenuity,
learning and eloquence. The first indictment was for the having
in possession the letter, map and route schedules.
Notwithstanding the mass of evidence given, to show the
prisoner's guilt, in unlawfully having in his possession these
documents, and the nine-tenths of the community in which he
lived, believed that he had a hand in the running away of
slaves, it was the opinion of the court, that the law under
which he was indicted, was not applicable to the case, and that
he must, accordingly, render a verdict of not guilty.
He was immediately arraigned upon another indictment, for having
in possession "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and tried; in this case the
court has not yet rendered a verdict, but holds it under _curia_
till after the Somerset county court. It is to be hoped, the
court will find the evidence in this case sufficient to bring it
within the scope of the law under which the prisoner is indicted
(that of 1842, chap. 272), and that the prisoner may meet his
due reward--be that what it may.
That there is something required to be done by our Legislators,
for the protection of slave property, is evident from the
variety of constructions put upon the statute in this case, and
we trust, that at the next meeting of the Legislature there will
be such amendments, as to make the law on this subject,
perfectly clear and comprehensible to the understanding of every
one.
In the language of the assistant counsel for the State, "Slavery
must be protected or it must be abolished."
From the same sheet, of May 20th, the terrible doom of Samuel Green, is
announced in the following words:
In the case of the State against Sam Green, (free negro) who was
tried at the April term of the Circuit Court of this county, for
having in his possession abolition pamphlets, among which was
"Uncle Tom's Cabin," has been found guilty by the court, and
sentenced to the penitentiary for the term of ten years--until
the 14th of May, 1867.
The son, a refugee in Canada, hearing the distressing news of his
father's sad fate in the hands of the relentless "gentlemen," often
wrote to know if there was any prospect of his deliverance. The
subjoined letter is a fair sample of his correspondence: