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property had absconded.
They arrested the husband, and vowed they would hold him as a hostage, till he informed them where they could find his wife and children.
When he refused to accompany them, they beat him severely, and swore they would carry him to the South and sell him. He told them they might carry him into slavery, or murder him, if they pleased, but no torture they could inflict would ever induce him to betray his family.
Finding they could not break his resolution, they tied his hands behind his back, and dragged him to a tavern kept by Peter Fritz, in Sassafras-street.
There they left him, guarded by the landlord and several men, while they went in search of the fugitives.
Some of Johnson's colored neighbors informed Isaac T. Hopper of these proceedings; and he went to the tavern, accompanied by a friend.
They attempted to enter the room occupied by Samuel and his guard, but found the door fastened, and the landlord refused to unlock it. When they inquired by what authority he made his tavern a prison, he replied that the man was placed in his custody by two constables, and should not be released till they came for him.
‘Open the door!’
said Friend Hopper; ‘or we will soon have it opened in a way that will cost something to repair it. Thou hast already made thyself liable to an action for false imprisonment.
’
Boston, J. P. Jewett and Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington; London; Low and Company, 1854.
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