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seen to come here,’ said he. ‘Where is he?
Produce him.’
Friend Hopper replied very quietly, ‘The man has been here; but he is gone now.’
This answer made the agent perfectly furious.
After discharging a volley of oaths, he said he had a search warrant, and swore he would have the house searched from garret to cellar.
‘Very well,’ replied Friend Hopper, ‘thou art at liberty to proceed according to law; but be careful not to overstep that boundary.
If thou dost, it will be at thy peril.’
After the slave-hunter had vented his rage in a torrent of abuse, the constable proposed to speak a few words in private.
With many friendly professions, he acknowledged that they had no searchwarrant.
‘The gentleman was about to obtain one from the mayor,’ said he; ‘but I wished to save your feelings.
I told him you were well acquainted with me, and I had no doubt you would permit me to search your house without any legal process.’
Friend Hopper listened patiently, perfectly well aware that the whole statement was a sham.
When the constable paused for a reply, he opened the door, and said very concisely, ‘Thou art at liberty to go about thy business.’
They spent several days searching for the fugitive, but their efforts were unavailing.
Boston, J. P. Jewett and Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington; London; Low and Company, 1854.
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